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NEW JERSEY. 



THE 



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HISTORY OF NE¥ JERSEY 



FKOM ITS 



€^i\m\ Irftlmnt tn tjjB l^iiwA CiniB. 



,^ . - EDITED BY 

w. h/carpenter, 



T. S. ARTHUR. 




PHILADELPHIA: 

LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO. 

1853. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by 

T. S. ARTHUR and W. H. CARPENTER, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of 
Pennsylvania 



STEREOTYPED BT L. JOHNSON AND CO. 
PHILADELPHIA. 



•^.K 

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X^ JN 

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PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. 



There are but few persons in this country who 
have not, at some time or other, felt the want of an 
accurate, well written, concise, yet clear and reliable 
history of their own or some other state. 

The want here indicated is now about being sup- 
plied ; and, as the task of doing so is no light or 
superficial one, the publishers have given into the 
hands of the two gentlemen whose names appear in 
the title-page, the work of preparing a series of Cabi- 
net Histories, embracing a volume for each state in 
the Union. Of their ability to perform this well, we 
need not speak. They are no strangers in the literary 
world. "What they undertake the public may rest 
assured will be performed thoroughly ; and that no 
sectarian, sectional, or party feelings will bias their 
judgment, or lead them to violate the integrity of 
history. 

The importance of a series of state histories like 
those now commenced, can scarcely be estimated. 
Being condensed as carefully as accuracy and interest 
of narrative will permit, the size and price of the 
volumes will bring them within the reach of every 
family in the country, thus making them home-read- 
ing books for old and young. Each individual will, 

7 



8 publishers' preface. 



in consequence, become familiar, not only with the 
history of his own state, but with that of other states: 
— thus mutual interest will be re-awakened, and old 
bonds cemented in a firmer union. 

In this series of Cabinet Histories, the authors, 
while presenting a concise but accurate narrative of 
the domestic policy of each state, will give greater 
prominence to the personal history of the people. 
The dangers which continually hovered around the 
early colonists ; the stirring romance of a life passed 
fearlessly amid peril; the incidents of border war- 
fare; the adventures of hardy pioneers; the keen 
watchfulness, the subtle surprise, the ruthless attack, 
and prompt retaliation — all these having had an im- 
portant influence upon the formation of the American 
character, are to be freely recorded. While the progres- 
sive development of the citizens of each individual state 
from the rough forest-life of the earlier day to the 
polished condition of the present, will exhibit a pic- 
ture of national expansion as instructing as it is inte- 



resting. 



The size and style of the series will be uniform 
with the present volume. The authors, who have 
been for some time collecting and arranging materials, 
will furnish the succeeding volumes as rapidly as their 
careful preparation will warrant. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

New Netherland — Traffic with the Indians — Settlement on 
Manhattan Island — Argall's visit to Manhattan — The 
States-General grant commercial privileges to discoverers — 
Block explores the harbour of New York — Coasts with 
Christiaanse, Connectifcut and Rhode Island — Manhattan 
Island fortified — May enters the Delaware Bay — Authorities 
appointed to govern New Netherland — Alliance with the 
Iroquois — Increase of population at New Amsterdam — The 
Plymouth settlement — Dutch West India Company organ- 
ized — A colony planted on the Delaware — Fort Nassau 
buUt — Administration of Minuits — Commercial prosperity 
of New Netherland — New plan for colonization adopted — 
Manors of Pavonia and Swanandael — De Vries' settlement 
at Hoarkill — Offence given to the Indians — Massacre of 
the colonists — Return of De Vries — Abandonment of the 
Swanandael purchase Page 19 



CHAPTER II. 

Dispute between the patroons and the "West India Company 
— Manors of Pavonia and Swanandael abolished — "Wouter 
Van Twiller governor — Difficulties with the Plymouth co- 
lony — Rival trading-houses on the Connecticut — Governor 
Kieft — Minuits founds a Swedish colony on the Delaware — 
Its prosperous condition — English settlers at Salem Creek — 
Dispossessed by the Swedes and Dutch — Printz succeeds 
Minuits as governor of New Sweden — Encroachment of the 
Puritans upon territory claimed by the Dutch — War with 
the Indian tribes on the Raritan — Unsuccessful negotiations 
for peace — Massacre of the Indians — Their terrible retalia- 

9 



10 CONTENTS. 



tion — Overtures for peace — Council at Rockaway — War re- 
newed — Settlements on the Passaic destroyed — Captain 
John Underhill — His successful descents upon Long Island 
— Arrival of reinforcements — Vigorous prosecution of the 
war — Interposition of the Mohawks — Peace declared — Un- 
popularity of Kieft — Ilis recall — Lost at sea Page 32 



CHAPTER IIL 

Governor Stuyvesant — His character — His wise and cautious 
policy — Quarrel with New England — Belligerent desires of 
Stuyvesant — The West India Company counsel peace — Ne- 
gotiations opened — Provisional treaty concluded — Second 
English attempt to found a colony on the Delaware frustrat- 
ed — Swedish colony threatened by Stuyvesant — Fort Cassi- 
mir constructed — Printz builds Fort Elsingburg — Rising 
governor of New Sweden — Takes Fort Cassimir by strata- 
gem — The Swedes conquered by Stuyvesant — Indian hos- 
tilities — Activity of Stuyvesant — Prosperous condition of 
New Netherland — Lord Baltimore claims the territory on 
the west bank of the Delaware — Its cession to the city of 
Amsterdam — Perilous position of Stuyvesant — Stringent 
regulations of the West India Company — Concessions de- 
manded by the people — Haughty reply of Stuyvesant — A 
popular assembly established — New Netherland granted to 
the Duke of York — Arrival of the English fleet — Stuyve- 
sant summoned to surrender — Capitulation 44 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Duke of York's patent to Berkeley and Carteret— The 
province of New Jersey — Liberal policy of the proprietaries 
— Their concessions to popular freedom — Nicholls governor 
of New York — His activity in colonizing New Albania — 
Carteret appointed governor of New Jersey — Establishes 
his capital at Elizabethtown — Inducements held out to set- 
tlers — Rapid increase in population — Puritan settlement 
on the Passaic — Threatened by the Hackensack Indians — 
Peace restored — Newark founded — Narrow policy of the 
colonists from Connecticut — First legislative session of New 
Jersey — Partial adoption of the harsh New England code 



CONTENTS. 11 



— Local rights of self-government claimed — Opposition to 
quit rents — Great dissatisfaction throughout the province 
— A new assembly constituted — Deposition of the governor 
— Carteret sails for England — Carteret's authority confirm- 
ed — Power of the assembly curtailed — War between Eng- 
land and Holland — Capture of New York by the Dutch 
— Its restoration to the English Page 55 



CHAPTER V. 

The Duke of York confirmed in his title to New York — An- 
dros appointed governor — Petition of New Jersey — The 
Quakers punished as recusants — Unjust charges against 
them — Their principles proscribed — Their persecution in 
England — Advised to settle in America — Salem settled — 
Governments of Fenwicke and Carteret — The boundaries 
of East and West New Jersey established — Constitution pro- 
mulgated — Its liberal concessions — Emigration of wealthy 
Quakers — Anecdote of Charles II. — Difficulty with Andros, 
governor of New York — Burlington settled — Fear of In- 
dian hostilities — A special treaty entered into — Speech of 
an Indian sachem — Progress of the colony — Increase of 
population 65 



CHAPTER VI. 

Dispute between New York and East New Jersey — Arbitrary 
conduct of Andros — Claims jurisdiction over New Jersey — 
Carteret refuses to resign his government — His arrest — 
Tried at New York and acquitted — Andros attempts to con- 
trol the assembly of East New Jersey — Their spirited re- 
sponse — Heavy tax on imports — Remonstrance of the New 
Jersey proprietaries — Their complaints referred to commis- 
sioners — The tax pronounced illegal — The Duke of York 
relinquishes his claim to govern New Jersey — Byllinge go- 
vernor of West New Jersey — Appoints Jennings deputy- 
governor — First legislative assembly convenes — Adoption 
of a constitution — Burlington erected the capital of the 
province — The assembly maintains its prerogative — 
Amendment of the constitution — Jennings elected go- 
vernor — Is sent to England — Olive governor — Byllinge ap- 



12 CONTENTS. 



points John Skene deputy-governor — Death of BylUnge 
— Sale of his interest in New Jersey — Dr. Coxe claims 
entire executive control — A change foreshadowed Page 77 



CHAPTER VII. 

Quit-rent disputes — East New Jersey purchased by Penn and 
others — Extension of the partnership — Robert Barclay 
made governor — Appoints Thomas Rudyard his deputy — 
Session of the assembly — The province divided into counties 
— Administration of Rudyard — Gawen Laurie governor — 
Mixed character of population in New Jersey — Scottish 
emigrants — Scot of Pitlochie's book — Lord Campbell ap- 
pointed deputy-governor of East New Jersey — James IL 
violates his obligations — Difficulties with New York — 
New Jersey threatened — Remonstrance of the proprietaries 
— Surrender of East and West New Jersey to the juris- 
diction of the crown — Andros commissioned governor 
— Flight of James IL — Resumption of the proprietary 
governments — Hamilton governor — Land titles — Hamil- 
ton superseded by Basse — Inter-provincial disputes — 
Hamilton re-appointed governor — New Jersey becomes a 
royal province 86 



CHAPTER VIIL 

The New constitution for the Jerseys — The legislative power 
— In whom vested — Slave trade ordered to be encouraged 
— The judiciary — Arrival of Lord Cornbury — His demand 
for a permanent salary rejected by the assembly — Corn- 
bury's illegal proceedings — Opposed by Lewis Morris and 
Samuel Jennings — The assembly wait upon Cornbury with 
a remonstrance — His response — Retort of the assembly 
— Conduct of Cornbury censured by the English ministry 
— His removal — Imprisoned by his creditors — Popular ad- 
ministration of Lovelace — His death — Ingoldsby deputy- 
governor — War between France and England — Capture of 
Port Royal 98 



CONTENTS. 13 



CHAPTER IX. 

Arrival of Governor Hunter — His speech to the assembly 
— His popularity — Invasion of Canada advocated by Ni- 
cholson — Organization of the provincial levies — Disastrous 
failure of the expedition — Treaty of Utrecht — Quaker 
difficulties in New Jersey — Opposition against Hunter — 
His success — Provincial demonstrations of regard — Burnet 
appointed governor — His removal to Massachusetts — 
Montgomery governor — Petition for a separate government 
— Administration of Crosby — Of Hamilton — Separation of 
the Jerseys from the government of New York — Morris 
commissioned governor — Rapid decline of his popularity — 
Maintains the royal prerogative — War declared between 
England and France — Shirley plans an expedition against 
Louisburg — Sharp controversy between Morris and the 
Assembly — Death of Morris — Succeeded by Hamilton — 
Feeble and abortive attempt to invade Canada — Peace of 
Aix-la-Chapelle Page 109 



CHAPTER X. 

Belcher governor — Revival of quit-rent disputes — A commis- 
sion of inquiry ordered by the crown — Claims of France 
to the Ohio valley — Mission of George Washington to 
Fort Le Boeuf — The works commenced at the forks of 
the Ohio seized by the French — Washington ordered 
to protect the Virginia frontier — Skirmish and death 
of Jumonville — Formal declaration of war — A plan of 
colonial confederation proposed — Rejected by the pro- 
vinces and the Board of Trade — Campaign of 1755 
— Defeat of Braddock — Victory of Lake George — Alarm 
of the colonies — Indian incursions — Campaign of 1756 
—Loudoun appointed commander-in-chief — Descent of 
Montcalm on the forts at Oswego — Treaty with the De- 
la waxes 117 



CHAPTER XL 

Increase of British power in the colonies — Subordination of 
colonial oflBcers — Indignation in Pennsylvania and New 
Jersey — Campaign of 1757 — Co-operation of New Jersey 
— Expedition against Louisburg — Inactivity of Loudoun 

2 



14 CONTENTS. 



at Halifax — Energetic movements of Montcalm — Siege of 
Fort "William Henry — Surrender of Munro — Attempted 
massacre of the prisoners — Heroic conduct of Montcalm 
— Alarm of General Webb — Death of Governor Bel- 
cher — Campaign of 1758 — Masterly arrangements of 
Pitt — Hearty response of the colonies — Capture of Louis- 
hurg — Repulse of Abercrombie before Ticonderoga — Fort 
Frontenac taken by Bradstreet — Evacuation of Fort Du- 
quesne — Indian council at the forks of the Delaware — 
Campaign of 1759 — Invasion of Canada projected — Ti- 
conderoga and Crown Point abandoned by the French — 
Surrender of Fort Niagara — Capture of Quebec — Peace of 
Fontainebleau — Change of governors in New Jersey — In- 
dian outrages. Page 130 



CHAPTER XII. 

Colonial expenditures during the war — Project to tax Ame- 
rica — Obnoxious to the colonists — Unanimity of the pro- 
vinces — Stamp Act proposed — Remonstrance of the colo- 
nies — Stamp Act passed — Spirited resolutions of Virginia 
— National Congress recommended — Disapproved of by 
the New Jersey house — Indignation of the people against 
their representatives — House again convenes at Amboy — 
Delegates appointed to the Congress — Petition and remon- 
strance forwarded to England — New Jersey stamp-distri- 
butor resigns — Stamp Tax repealed — Party lines drawn — 
Opposition to the Quartering Act — Townsend's tax bill 
passed — Agitation in the colonies — Language of the New 
Jersey house — Non-importation agreements — Violated by 
New York traders — Their reception in New Jersey — Repeal 
of all taxes except the duty on tea — Popular tumults in 
Monmouth and Essex counties — Odious nature of the tax 
on tea — Rendered nugatory by non-importation agree- 
ments — Parliament endeavours to force tea into America 
— Tea destroyed at Boston and in New Jersey — Port of 
Boston closed — New Jersey people sympathize with their 
Massachusetts brethren — National Congress of 1774 — Battle 
of Lexington 143 



CHAPTER XIIL 

Affair of Lexington — Military activity of the provincials 
— Proceedings of Congress — Ticonderoga surprised by 



CONTENTS. 15 



Ethan Allen — Lord North's conciliatory plan rejected by 
New Jersey — Organization of the militia — Battle of Bunker 
Hiil — Evacuation of Boston by the British — Declaration 
of Independence — State of New Jersey formed — Livings- 
ton elected governor — New York menaced by Howe — 
Activity of Washington — Battle of Long Island — New 
York evacuated by the Americans — Capture of Fort Wash- 
ington by the British — Retreat of Washington across the 
Jerseys — Condition of his troops — Meeting of the first 
state legislature — The American army crosses the Dela- 
ware — Capture of General Lee — Surprise of the Hessians 
at Trenton Page 157 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Washington takes post at Trenton — Comwallis advances 
against him — Perilous situation of the American com- 
mander — His daring scheme to escape — Attacks and de- 
feats the enemy at Princeton — Subsequent movements of 
the contending armies — Washington goes into winter 
quarters at Morristown — Inspiriting eflFect of the late 
victories — Outrages committed by the enemy — New Jersey 
militia take the field — Skirmishes near Springfield and 
Hillsborough — Washington's proclamation to the disafi"ect- 
ed inhabitants — Exceptions taken to it — Legislature con- 
venes — Difficulties in framing a new militia law — Non- 
resistance principles respected — Dissatisfaction of Livings- 
ton — "Council of Safety" appointed — Its extraordinary 
powers — Bill to confiscate the estates of Tories — Its favour- 
able conditions — Plundering expeditions of the Tories from 
New York 168 



CHAPTER XV. 

Opening of the campaign of 1777 — American stores at Peeks- 
kill destroyed — Skirmish at Boundbrook — Washington takes 
a strong position at Middlebrook — Howe's feint to draw 
him from his camp — Its ill success — Howe retreats to Am- 
boy — Washington advances to Quibbletown — Howe returns 
to attack him — Is again foiled — Retires to Staten Island, 
and embarks for the southward — Perplexity of Washington 



16 CONTENTS. 



in regard to his movements — Loyalists on Staten Island 
become troublesome — Sullivan's attempt against them — 
Howe lands at the head of Chesapeake Bay — Battle of 
Brandywine — "Wayne surprised at Paoli — Howe enters 
Philadelphia — Clinton ravages East Jersey — Battle of Ger- 
mantown — American successes at the north — Movements 
on the Delaware — American works at Byllinsport captured 
— Defences near the mouth of the Schuylkill — Donop as- 
saults Red Bank and is repulsed — Re-election of Livings- 
ton — Dickinson's attempt against the Staten Island Tories 
— Fort Mifflin evacuated and Red Bank abandoned — Bri- 
tish in full possession of the Delaware — Skirmish near 
Gloucester Point — Washington goes into winter quarters 
at Valley Forge Page 179 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Distress of the American prisoners in New York — Sufferings 
of the army — Measures taken by the state for their relief — 
Articles of confederation brought before the legislature of 
New Jersey — Alliance between France and the United Co- 
lonies — Objections of the legislature to the Articles of Con- 
federation — British foraging party under Mawhood enters 
Salem county — Conflict at Quinton's Bridge — Gallant ex- 
ploit of Andrew Bacon — British forces a second time re- 
pulsed at Quinton's Bridge — Americans massacred at Han- 
cock's Bridge — Correspondence between Mawhood and 
Colonel Hand — British return to Philadelphia — Expedition 
against Bordentown — Narrow escape of Lafayette at Barren 
Hill — Clinton ordered to evacuate Philadelphia — He retreats 
across the Jerseys — Washington starts in pursuit — Battle 
of Monmouth Court House — Lee's conduct during the 
action censured — He is arrested, tried, suspended, and finally 
dismissed from the service 193 



CHAPTER XVIL 

D'Estaing arrives with a French fleet — Sullivan's unsuccess- 
ful attempt against Newport — Massacre of Baylor's cavalry 
regiment near Tappan — British expedition against Little 
Egg Harbour — Chestnut Neck burned — Pulaski's legion 
sixrprised in the vicinity of Tuckerton — New legislature 



CONTENTS. 17 



elected — Livingston re-chosen governor — Articles of Con- 
federation approved — French fleet sails for the West Indies 
— Campaign of 1779 — Difficulty with the Jersey brigade — 
Capture of Stony Point by the British — Recaptured by 
A^^ayne — Major Lee surprises the English garrison at Paulug 
Hook — Sullivan's expedition against the Indians of New 
York — Fierce partisan contest in New Jersey — Operations 
in the south — Financial difficulties of Congress — New 
Jersey legislature orders nine millions of dollars to be 
raised — Distress of the American army at Morristown — 
Washington's requisition upon New Jersey for supplies — 
Unsuccessful attack upon Staten Island Page 207 



CHAPTER XVIIL 

Campaign of 1780 — South Carolina invaded and overrun by 
the British — Discontent inWashington's army — Knyphausen 
lands at Elizabethtown Point — Marches toward Springfield 
— Burns the village of Connecticut Farms — Retires to the 
Point — Is joined by Clinton — Patriotism of the Rev, James 
Caldwell — He becomes obnoxious to the Tories — His wife 
is murdered by a refugee, during the attack on Connecticut 
Farms — He is shot by a sentinel at Elizabethtown Point — 
Clinton advances against Springfield — Is met by Greene — 
Springfield burned — Clinton retires to Staten Island — Arri- 
val of Rochambeau — Gloomy opening of the year 1781 — 
Revolt of the Pennsylvania line — Part of the New Jersey 
brigade mutinies — Mutineers shot — Cornwallis in the south 
— Battle of Cowpens — Battle of Guilford Court House — 
Greene partially recovers South Carolina — Cornwallis enters 
Virginia — Fortifies himself at Yorktown — Is besieged by 
the allied armies, and the fleet under De Grasse — He ca- 
pitulates — Prospect of peace — Tory outrages in New Jersey 
— Murder of Captain Huddy — Peace 219 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Embarrassed situation of the country — Conditional cession of 
public lands Iby Virginia — Objected to — Grounds of New 
Jersey's objection — Virginia withdraws her condition, and 
the cession is accepted — Federal imposts proposed — Favour- 
ed by New Jersey and other states — Defeated in conse- 
2* 



18 CONTENTS. 



quence of the opposition of New York — 111 feeling thus 
created — Embarrassing resolution of the New Jersey legis- 
lature — National convention recommended — Meets at Phila- 
delphia — "New Jersey Plan" — "Virginia Plan" adopted — 
Constitution submitted to the states — Ratified by the New 
Jersey convention — Republican and Federal parties — Poli- 
ties of New Jersey — Washington chosen president — His 
journey from Mount Vernon to New York — His reception at 
Trenton — Trenton established permanently as the capital 
of the state — Death of Governor Livingston — William Pat- 
terson governor — Is made an associate judge in the Supreme 
Court of the United States — Resigns the executive of New 
Jersey — Is succeeded by Richard Howell — New partisan 
differences — Alien and sedition laws — Decline of the Fe- 
deralists — Joseph Bloomfield elected governor of New 
Jersey by the Republicans — Removal of the Brotherton 
Indians Page 232 



CHAPTER XX. 

Re-election of Bloomfield — Act for the gradual abolition of 
slavery — Aaron Burr — Sketch of his life — Origin of his 
quarrel with Hamilton — He kills Hamilton in a duel — Is in- 
dicted for murder by a New Jersey grand jury — His jour- 
neys to the West — His arrest, trial, and acquittal — His sub- 
sequent career and death — Is buried in the Princeton grave- 
yard — Difiiculties between the United States, England and 
France — British orders in council — Napoleon's retaliatory 
decrees — American Embargo Act — Continued aggressions 
of England — Affair of the Chesapeake — Hostilities declared 
— Exemption of New Jersey from invasion — Naval victories 
of Bainbridge and Lawrence — Death of the latter — Ameri- 
can successes — Peace — Governors Aaron Ogden, William S. 
Pennington, Mahlon Dickerson — School fund created — 
Isaac H. Williamson governor — Act to expedite the extinc- 
tion of slavery — Common schools established — Peter D. 
Vroom governor — Jacksonian and Whig parties — Governors 
Samuel S. Southard, Elias P. Seeley, Philemon Dickerson 
— Financial embarrassments — Triumph of the Whigs — 
William Pennington governor — Constitutional convention 
— New constitution ratified by the people — Governors Dan. 
Haines, Charles C. Stratton, George F. Fort — Present con- 
dition and prospects of the state — Conclusion 246 



HISTORY OF mW JERSEY. 



CHAPTER I. 



New Netherland — Traffic with the Indians — Settlement on 
Manhattan Island — Argall's visit to Manhattan — The States 
General grant commercial privileges to discoverers — Block 
explores the harbour of New Fork — Coasts with Christi- 
aanse, Connecticut and Rhode Island — Manhattan Island 
fortified — May enters the Delaware Bay — Authorities ap- 
pointed to govern IVew iVetherland — Alliance with the Iro- 
quois — Increase of population at New Amsterdam — 'The 
Plymouth settlement — Dutch West India Company organ- 
ized — A colony planted on the Delaware — Fort Nassau built 
— Administration of Minuits — Commercial prosperity of 
New Netherland — New plan for colonization adopted — 
Manors of Pavonia and Swanandael — De Vries's settle- 
ment at Hoarkill — Offence given to the Indians — Massacre 
of the colonists — Return of De Vries — Abandonment of the 
Swanandael purchase. 

Although discovered by a navigator in the 
service of a Dutch company, the territory adja- 
cent to the Hudson River was not formally 
claimed by Holland until after the lapse of 
several years. In 1610, a few merchants of 
Amsterdam fitted out a ship with various sorts 
of merchandise, and despatched it to the newly- 
found lands, in order to open with its native in- 

19 



20 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1613. 

habitants a traffic in furs, which were there 
both abundant and cheap. Success attending 
this venture, similar voyages became frequent, 
and trading-houses began to spring up on Man- 
hattan Island, and at Beaverwyck, where Albany 
now stands. 

Antagonistic as these establishments were to 
the pretensions of England, they did not long 
remain unnoticed by that country's agents in 
America. In November, 1613, Captain Argall, 
of Virginia, while returning from an unjust and 
useless expedition against the French in Acadia, 
visited the feeble trading-post at Manhattan, 
and compelled the Dutch to stipulate allegiance 
to Great Britain, tribute to Virginia, and the 
partial payment of his own expenses. But no 
sooner had Argall left the bay than the Dutch 
flag was again hoisted, and every thing went on 
as before. 

In April following this occurrence, the States- 
General of Holland issued a decree, grant- 
ing to such persons as should discover new 
lands, the right of exclusive trade to them for 
four successive voyages. In order to secure the 
benefits of this grant, a number of merchants 
entered into partnership, and fitted out five 
ships, the chief command of which they gave to 
Hendrick Christiaanse, with Captains Adrien 
Block and Cornelius Jacobsen May as his 
subordinates. 



1613.] MAY ENTERS DELAWARE BAY. 21 

Block was the first to reach the Bay of New 
York, where, his ship being accidentally de- 
stroyed by fire, he built a sniall yacht, and pass- 
ed through the East River into Long Island 
Sound. Near Cape Cod he encountered Chris- 
tiaanse, returning from Massachusetts Bay, and 
together they examined the shores of Connecti- 
cut and Rhode Island with considerable care and 
thoroughness. 

Immediately on their arrival at Manhattan, 
a rude fort was erected on the southern extre- 
mity of the island ; and, in the following year, 
a small redoubt was thrown up on the opposite 
bank of the Hudson, probably at the present 
Jersey City Point. 

May extended his researches farther south. 
Sailing along the eastern coast of New Jer- 
sey, he rounded the cape that now bears his 
name, and entered and explored the lower waters 
of Delaware Bay. 

In the ensuing autumn a special grant was 
made to the merchants by whom Christiaanse 
had been employed, dignifying their simple 
partnership with the title of " The United New 
Netherland Company," and confirming the pri- 
vileges promised by the previous decree of the 
States-General. It was now that the name New 
Netherland was first applied to that part of the 
continent lying between Cape Cod and the De- 
laware Bay. Christiaanse, as Upper Hoofdt, or 



!«? 



22 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1613. 

chief-commander, "was placed at the head of af- 
fairs, with Jacob Elckens, at one time a mer- 
chant's clerk in Amsterdam, as his lieutenant. 

These officers appear to have discharged the 
duties entrusted to them with judgment and 
tact. In the summer of 16^1 they concluded 
a formal treaty of peace and alliance with the 
Iroquois, or Five Nations, at which the Dela- 
wares and Mohicans were also present. This 
alliance was kept up for many years, and proved 
of the highest advantage. Meanwhile, settlers 
were gradually coming into the country, and the 
little station at Manhattan, which presently took 
the name of New Amsterdam, began to wear the 
appearance of a town. Attempts were likewise 
made to extend the colony ; and, in the year 
following the treaty with the Iroquois, a few 
traders planted the village of Bergen, the first 
of white settlements in New Jersey. 

Although the charter of exclusive privileges, 
granted to the New Netherland company, had 
by this time expired, a brisk trade continued to 
be carried on with the settlement at Manhattan 
for several years, under special licenses to indi- 
vidual enterprise. The benefits of the lucrative 
traffic of the new country were thus opened to a 
larger number, but yet with little advantage to 
its growth into a permanent colony. 

In the mean time, a body of English Puritans, 
who had fled from persecution at home to 



1620.] THE PLYMOtTH SETTLEMENT. 23 

the more tolerant institutions of Holland, be- 
coming dissatisfied with their residence in the 
Low Countries, determined to seek some new 
land, where they might avoid the less austere 
manners of the Dutch, and still be free to 
practise and teach the faith they professed. 
The glowing description given by Sir AYalter 
Raleigh, of Guiana, first drew them toward 
that country; but, wishing to retain their na- 
tional character and language, they finally de- 
cided upon procuring a patent for lands from 
the London or South Virginia Company. 

Accordingly, on the 6th of September, 1620, 
after having completed their arrangements, they 
made their final embarkation at Plymouth, on 
board the Mayflower, for the new world. Their 
voyage was long and perilous. Bufi'eted about by 
adverse winds and currents, they were compelled 
to land a considerable distance north of where 
they intended, and entirely without the limits of 
the patent they held. Resolving to remain, 
however, on the 20th of December they began 
to erect their dwellings of hewed logs, and the 
town of New Plymouth quickly sprung up on the 
shore of Cape Cod Bay. The colonists soon 
after procured a charter from the Plymouth 
council, which had superseded the old company 
of that name, and to which the British crown 
had granted, in total disregard of the Dutch 
claim, all that part of the American continent, 



24 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1623. 

extending from the middle of New Jersey to the 
Bay of Chaleurs. 

Designing to make the settlement on the 
Hudson the basis of a more extended American 
colonization, the States-General of Holland, in 
the year following the landing of the Pilgrims, 
authorized the formation of the celebrated West 
India Company, to the means of which they 
largely contributed, thus giving it the weight 
and character of a great national association. 

To this company it was determined to commit 
the care of New Netherland, with an exclusive 
privilege of trade and settlement therein. That 
territory was at the same time formally erected 
into a province, to be known and distinguished 
by certain armorial insignia. 

The new company sent out their first ship in 
1623, under the command of May, with a num- 
ber of colonists, and a large store of provisions, 
merchandise, and arms. Having landed a por- 
tion of his passengers and cargo at New Amster- 
dam, May sailed to the Delaware Kiver, where 
it was proposed to plant a colony. He chose a 
spot on the eastern shore, near the mouth of 
Timber Creek, a few miles below the present 
city of Camden, and there built Fort Nassau. 
Leaving a small body of men as a guard for the 
infant settlement. May returned to the Hudson, 
high up which Fort Orange was soon afterward 
built, on the present site of Albany. 



1627.] COMMERCIAL PROSPERITY. 25 

In the following year, Peter Minuits, a na- 
tive of Wesel, in Westphalia, arrived at New 
Amsterdam, to act as governor, or commercial 
director of the colony. Under his administra- 
tion, which lasted till 1631, affairs glided on 
smoothly, and, in a commercial point of view, 
prosperously. Lands were now purchased from 
the Indians ; among others, the whole of Man- 
hattan Island, for sixty guilders, or about twenty- 
four dollars. The fort at New Amsterdam was 
enlarged, and that place made the capital of the 
colony. The trade of the province was extend- 
ed, even to the Indians upon the St. Lawrence ; 
and in the first four years it increased one-half, 
while the income derived from it was full a third 
more than the outlay of the company. 

In 1627, Minuits, for the first time, held com- 
munication with the Puritans, now firmly esta- 
blished at Plymouth, after six years of wearisome 
effort. Letters were sent to the governor of 
New Plymouth, congratulating him and his 
people upon the success of their adventure, 
and proposing a friendly intercourse and trade. 
Governor Bradford and his council answered in 
courteous language, expressing their lasting re- 
membrance of the kindness they had received 
while in the native country of the Dutch. With 
regard to the proposal for commercial inter- 
course, they said that "it was very acceptable 
to them, and they did not doubt but that in a 



26 HISTORY OF XEW JERSEY. [1628. 

short time they might have profitable trade to- 
gether." In concluding, however, they plainly 
intimated their doubt as to the validity of the 
title of their neighbours to the lands they were 
then occupying; and requested them ''to for- 
bear to trade with the natives in the bay and 
river of Narraganset," as, " otherwise, they 
were resolved to solicit his majesty for redress, 
if by any means they could not help them- 
selves." 

To this the Dutch replied firmly, yet with 
unrufiled calmness, insisting upon the justness 
of their claim, and declaring their determination 
to uphold it. 

The good feeling between the two colonies 
does not appear to have been interrupted by 
this difference ; for but a short time elapsed 
when De Razier, second in command at New 
Amsterdam, was sent, with much pomp and cere- 
mony, as special envoy to the English. The 
Pilgrims were greatly pleased with the appear- 
ance and demeanour of the Dutch envoy, who, 
on his part, was equally gratified at the manner 
of his reception and entertainment. Yet he 
was unable to procure any definite treaty with 
the English, they urging that, in the then doubt- 
ful condition of the title to New Netherland, a 
matter so important should be arranged by the 
ministers of their respective nations. 

As yet the colonization of New Netherland 



1629.] PATROONS. 27 

had increased but slowly. In 1629, a scheme to 
promote the peopling of the country was adopt- 
ed by the directors of the West India Company, 
and sanctioned by the States-General. A char- 
ter of privileges and exemptions was drawn up, 
under which any person, who within four years 
planted in New Netherland a colony of fifty 
souls, above the age of fifteen, might acquire, 
by purchase from the Indians, as an " eternal 
heritage," and with the title of patroon, or lord 
of the manor, a tract of land extending sixteen 
miles along one side of a navigable stream, or 
half that distance on each bank, and reaching 
as far inland as he deemed necessary. With 
the approbation of the director and council of 
the province, all other persons, emigrating on 
their own account, were free to take up as much 
land as they could properly cultivate. The com- 
pany was pledged to protect the colonists of 
every degree and condition, from '' outlandish 
and inlandish wars and powers," and to furnish 
the manors with negro slaves, if the traffic were 
found profitable. At the same time it reserved 
to itself the trade in furs, and monopolized the 
sale of woollen, linen, and cotton fabrics, by 
prohibiting their manufacture in the colony. 

Even before this charter was ratified by the 
States-General, two of the directors of the com- 
pany, Godyn and Bloemart, prepared to secure 
a portion of the advantages it offered, by com- 



28 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1630. 

missioning their American agents to purchase 
from the resident chiefs, a slip of land two miles 
wide, and extending from Cape Henlopen to the 
mouth of the Delaware Kiver. On the 5th of 
May, 1630, a second tract, sixteen miles square, 
and comprising Cape May with the adjacent 
country, was purchased on behalf of the same 
individuals. Staten Island, and the country 
around Hoboken, under the name of Pavonia, 
were soon after taken up for the Director Pauw, 
while Kilian Van Rensselaer became the pro- 
prietor of a considerable territory along the 
Hudson, from Albany to the mouth of the 
Mohawk. 

Naming their purchase Swanandael, or the 
Valley of Swans, Godyn and his associates at 
once prepared to colonize it. An expedition 
was fitted out, under the direction of David Pe- 
terson De Vries, an experienced navigator, who 
had been admitted into the company. Sailing 
from the Texel, in December, 1630, De Vries, 
after a quick passage, landed at Hoarkill, now 
Lewistown, on the western shore of the Dela- 
ware Bay, where he built a trading-house and 
fort, and planted a colony of thirty-four persons. 
Having remained in the country more than a 
year, he returned to Holland for supplies, leaving 
the infant settlement under the care of one Giles 
Osset. Meantime, Pauw and Van Rensselaer 
had secured their claims to patroonships, by 



1631.] MASSACRE OF THE COLONISTS. 29 

sending out a number of colonists to settle on 
their respective tracts. 

De Vries had left the Delaware but a little 
"while, when Osset began a quarrel with the In- 
dians, on account of one of their chiefs having 
taken a plate of tin, stamped with the arms of 
Holland, from a post in Swanandael, to which it 
had been fastened, as a token of the claim and 
possession of the Dutch. Foolishly construing 
this light trespass into a national insult, Osset 
so harassed the Indians for redress, that, to get 
rid of his importunities, they brought him the 
offender's head. The Dutch commandant was 
shocked at this unexpected and sanguinary re- 
sult, and told the Indians that he had wished for 
no such severity, intending to punish the delin- 
quent with nothing but a simple reprimand. 
Though they had themselves condemned and ex- 
ecuted the offending chief, his friends now plot- 
ted a terrible retribution upon the strangers, to 
whose exactions they attributed his death. 
Taking advantage of a time when all the 
colonists but Osset and a single sentinel were 
labouring in the fields, at a distance from 
the fort, the savages entered it, bearing packs 
of furs, and offered to trade. Unsuspicious of 
evil, Osset ascended to the upper store-room of 
the fort, in order to get some articles of mer- 
chandise, to exchange for the peltries of the In- 
dians. As he came down stairs again, a warrior 

2* 



30 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1632. 

cleft his skull with a tomahawk, and he fell 
dead without a groan. The sentinel was next 
despatched. From this scene of blood the In- 
dians now sauntered out to the fields, greeting 
the labourers in a friendly way. Mixing freely 
with their intended victims, they suddenly fell 
upon them, and in a few moments not one was 
left alive. 

When, in December, 1632, De Vries returned 
from Holland, he found no white man to wel- 
come him to the shores of the Delaware. The 
bones of his friends were bleaching in the fields, 
and the dwellings they had erected were reduced 
to ashes. His proffered friendship at length in- 
duced a few doubting and trembling savages to 
come on board his ship, and from them he heard 
the details of the sad fate that had befallen the 
little colony. Policy, as well as the natural 
kindness of his heart, led De Vries to overlook 
the ofi'ence of the Indians ; and, having distri- 
buted presents among them, he formed a treaty 
of peace and reconciliation. Landing a num- 
ber of emigrants, he soon afterward sailed in 
search of provisions, as high up the river as 
Cooper's Creek, where he narrowly escaped de- 
struction from the treachery of the savages. 
Deeming the creek a convenient place to attack 
him, they directed De Vries to bring his vessel 
into it, pretending, at the same time, they 
had there the articles he needed. But, as he 



1632.] SWANANDAEL ABANDONED. 31 

had been forewarned by an Indian woman of the 
snare that was laid for him, he avoided it, and 
returned down the river to Fort Nassau, which 
now swarmed with savages, the garrison having 
deserted it nearly two years previous. Many of 
the Indians came on board the ship, offering 
beaver-skins for sale. Telling them that the 
Great Spirit had acquainted him with their evil 
designs, De Vries compelled the whole party to 
go on shore. Several of the principal chiefs 
now collected on the bank of the river, and sig- 
nified their wish to form a treaty of friendship, 
to which the mild and peaceful leader of the 
Dutch readily acceded. To confirm the new 
treaty, the Indians, according to their custom, 
made him many presents, but would accept none 
in return, saying that they did not give presents 
with the view of receiving others. 

Finding it impossible to obtain sufiicient pro- 
visions on the Delaware, De Vries soon after- 
ward set sail for Virginia, where he met a kindly 
reception, and was supplied with all he wanted. 
Returning to the scene of his unsuccessful at- 
tempt at colonization, he took on board the few 
settlers he had left, and made his way to New 
Amsterdam. 



32- HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1632. 



CHAPTER II. 

Dispute between the patroons and the West India Company 
— Manors of Pavonia and Swanandael abohshed — Wouter 
Van Twiller governor — Difficulties with the Plymonih co- 
lony — Rival trading-houses on the Connecticut — Governor 
Kieft — Minuits founds a Swedish colony on the Delaware — 
Its prosperous condition — English settlers at Salem Creek — 
Dispossessed by the Swedes and Dutch — Printz succeeds 
Minuits as governor of New Sweden — Encroachment of the 
Puritans upon territory claimed by the Dutch — War with 
the Indian tribes on the Raritan — Unsuccessful negotiations 
for peace — Massacre of the Indians — Their terrible retalia- 
tion — Overtures for peace — Council at Rockaway — War re- 
newed — Settlements on the Passaic destroyed — Captain 
John Underbill — His successful descents upon Long Island 
— Arrival of reinforcements — Vigorous prosecution of the 
war — Interposition of the Mohawks — Peace declared — Un- 
popularity of Kieft — His recall — Lost at sea. 

In the mean time, a sharp quarrel had sprung 
up betAveen the patroons and the West India 
Company ; the former claiming an exclusive 
right to trade within the limits of their respec- 
tive territories, while the latter contended for a 
monopoly in the fur traffic, and charged the 
patroons with having grasped at undue advan- 
tages, by purchasing such extensive and favour- 
ably located tracts. A long and serious dispute 
resulted, and it was finally settled only by 
abolishing the manors of Pavonia and Swanan- 
dael. 



1933.] COMMERCIAL RIVALRY. 33 

During the progress of this quarrel, Governor 
Minuits ''fell into disputes with the company," 
the consequences of which were his displacement 
and recall to Holland. His successor, Wouter 

■ Van Twiller, formerly a clerk in the employ of 
the West India Company, arrived at New Am- 
sterdam in the spring of 1683. 

During the five years that Van Twiller was 
governor of New Netherland, but little worthy 
of historical notice occurred. Several new 
trading-posts were established, and the fur traffic 

I extended, while many improvements were made 
and farms opened on the island of Manhattan. 
It was during this period, however, that the 
good feeling hitherto existing between the Man- 
hattanese and their Plymouth neighbours gave 
way to the jealousies created by commercial ri- 
valry ; and, at the close of Van Twiller's admi- 
nistration, both the Dutch and the English, in 
defiance of each other's remonstrances, had built 
trading-houses and begun settlements on the 
Connecticut River. About the same time a few 

: English, under the leadership of one Captain 
Holmes, attempted to plant a colony in the 
neighbourhood of Fort Nassau, but being dis- 
covered by the Dutch, the whole party were 
made prisoners, and carried to New Amsterdam. 
Van Twiller having fallen under the suspicion 
of being more faithful to his own interests than 
to those of the province, the West India Com- 



34 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1638. 

pany, in March, 1638, notified him of his dis- 
missal from office, and appointed William Kieft 
to be his successor. 

The new governor was a man of great energy, 
but passionate and overbearing, and with little 
of the cool decision necessary to carry him well 
through the difficulties that soon on all sides be- 
set his administration. 

One of his first acts was to issue a sharp pro- 
test against the English plantations on the Con- 
necticut. Treating this remonstrance with silent 
contempt, the English went steadily oi) with their 
settlements. Kieft was illy prepared to resist 
with any thing more forcible than words, and so 
endured, as best he could, the aggressions he was 
not able to prevent. 

Scarcely a month afterward, a new competitor 
for the territories claimed by the Dutch as a 
portion of New Netherland, appeared on the 
waters of Delaware Bay. 

As early as 1626, Gustavus the Great, of 
Sweden, had cherished the design of planting a 
colony in America ; but the subsequent war with 
Germany, and the death of the Swedish monarch, 
delayed its execution for many years. In 1633, 
however, the project was revived by Oxenstiern, 
the enlightened chancellor of Christina, the 
daughter and successor of Gustavus. 

Indignant at having been removed from his 
office, Minuits, the former governor of New Ne- 



1638.] SWEDISH COLONY. 35 

therland, now offered his services to conduct the 
Swedish enterprise. Oxenstiern did not long 
hesitate to accept his offer, and two ships, the 
Key of Calmar and the Griffin, were presently 
made ready and placed under his orders. Sail- 
ing in these two vessels, well provided with a 
a store of provisions and merchandise, the little 
colony of Swedes and Fins arrived off Cape 
Henlopen, or, as they called it, Paradise Point, 
early in the spring of 1638. Having purchased 
the lands from this point to the falls at Trenton, 
they formed a nucleus for their contemplated 
settlement, by building a fort near the mouth of 
Christiana Creek, on the western shore of the 
Delaware. Kieft immediately issued a sharp 
remonstrance against the new colony, declaring 
that it occupied lands which the Dutch had already 
studded with their forts, and sealed with their 
blood. Determined to remain, the Swedes made 
every preparation to defend themselves ; but 
Kieft, with unaccountable forbearance, went no 
further than to authorize the erection of a fort 
at Lewistown, 

As time glided by, the Swedish colony on the 
Delaware increased and prospered. Vessels 
were continually arriving, crowded with emi- 
grants from the bleak plains and rugged hills 
of Scandinavia. Though the Dutch regarded 
the settlement with a jealous eye, they made no 
attempt to disturb it for many years ; and, on 



36 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1641. 

one occasion, at least, they and the Swedes 
leagued together against the encroachments of 
the English. 

In 1641, while Sir Edmund Ployden was 
vainly endeavouring to settle his Palatinate of 
New Albion, comprising the country from Mary- 
land to Connecticut, a company of nearly fifty 
families sailed from New Haven, to plant a colo- 
ny upon the Delaware. They finally disembark- 
ed upon the banks of what is now Salem Creek, 
a few miles above its mouth, and began to clear 
fields and erect houses. Van Gessendam, the 
Dutch commandant at Fort Nassau, sent notice 
of these intruders to Kieft, who immediately 
despatched two vessels with orders to reduce or 
disperse the colony. 

Equally watchful, the Swedish commandant 
had marked the English when they entered the 
bay ; and, with a view to dispossess them of the 
territor}?- they had occupied, he sent an agent 
to purchase the whole tract from its Indian 
owners. When the expedition fitted out by 
Kieft made its appearance, the Swedes joined 
with the Dutch, and they presently proceeded 
together to the English settlement, took the colo- 
nists prisoners, burned their houses, and confis- 
cated their goods. 

Minuits having died about this time, Colonel 
John Printz succeeded him as governor of New 
Sweden, arriving in the Delaware on the 16th 



1643.] WAR WITH THE INpIANS. 87 

of February, 1643. Landing upon the island 
of Tennekong, or Tinicum, a few miles below 
Philadelphia, he built, with huge hemlock logs,. 
the Fort of New Gottenburg, around whieh the 
houses of the emigrants who had accompanied 
him soon began to cluster. 

While the Swedes were setting up their au- 
thority over the Dutch possessions on the De- 
laware, the English continued to narrow the 
limits of New Netherland upon the north. At 
any other time, it is probable that Kieft would 
have disputed every inch of the ground with the 
intruders ; but Indian disturbances had broken 
out, and he was now fully occupied in contending 
with an enemy that seemed bent upon his de- 
struction. 

This desperate and sanguinary contest began 
in the summer of 1640. Having been charged 
with the commission of a few petty thefts, the 
Indian tribes upon the Karitan were visited by 
a party of Dutch soldiers, and several of their 
leading chiefs subjected to insult and gross mal- 
treatment. The maddened savages, in the fol- 
lowing year, retaliated by murdering the settlers 
and laying waste the plantations on Staten 
Island. Not long afterward a Dutchman was 
slain by an Indian of the Raritan tribe, who, 
when a boy, had witnessed the murder of a 
kinsman by the whites, and had sworn to avenge 
it. The offender's nation having refused to 

4 



38 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1643. 

(deliver him up, they were outlawed, and a price 
set upon their heads. During the following 
year they evinced a disposition to yield, and 
steps were taken toward a treaty of reconcilia- 
tion. But, while these negotiations were pend- 
ing, an Indian, the son of a chief, was made 
drunk and then robbed by some Dutch traders. 
Furious from a sense of the wrong he had suffer- 
ed, and blinded by intoxication, the savage took 
revenge by shooting down the first white man 
that fell in his way. Expressing their grief for 
this unfortunate occurrence, a deputation of 
chiefs waited upon Kieft, and offered to com- 
pound the murder by paying a fine of two hun- 
dred fathoms of wampum. The governor was 
inexorable, and demanded the fugitive ; but the 
Indians were unable or unwilling to surrender 
him. 

Contrary to the advice of the pacific De Vries, 
Kieft now determined upon an exterminating war 
against the savages. Imitating the cunning of 
those he plotted to destroy, the governor kept 
from them every intimation of the evil that was 
impending, and directed a continuance of kind 
intercourse with them, " until God's will and 
proper opportunity should be offered." That 
opportunity came in February, 1643. 

Descending from their strongholds in the 
north, a war-party of the Mohawks made an 
onslaught upon the tribes around Manhattan, 



1643.] MASSACRE OF INDIANS. 39 

and compelled them to seek the vicinity of the 
Dutch for protection. Many of the colonists 
were disposed to pity them, and gave them food ; 
but Kieft, seizing the chance, joined with their 
foes, and determined upon their destruction. 
Accordingly, on the night of the 25th of Febru- 
aro, a party of soldiers was sent across the 
Hudson to Pavonia, where a large number of the 
trembling fugitives had collected. The Indians 
were sleeping without guards, and in no expecta- 
tion of evil. Their surprise was complete, and 
scarcely a hatchet was raised in defence. Eighty 
of their number, men, women, and children, 
were cruelly massacred. "This was a feat," 
wrote De Vries, "worthy the heroes of old 
Rome — to massacre a parcel of Indians in their 
sleep, to take the children from the breasts of 
their mothers, and to butcher them in the pre- 
sence of their parents, and throw their mangled 
limbs into the fire or water ! Other sucklings 
had been fastened to little boards, and in this 
position they were cut in pieces ! Some were 
thrown into the river, and when the parents 
rushed in to save them, the soldiers prevented 
their landing, > and let parents and children 
drown." During the same night a second party 
of soldiers fell upon the Indians at Corlear's 
Hook. No mercy was shown. Forty miserable 
savages were butchered in cold blood; some 
while sleeping, others while flying without a show 



40 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1643. 

of resistance ; and many, having crawled away 
in the darkness, were found at day-break, stiffen- 
ed with wounds, and put to death. 

Kieft gave the returning troops an exulting 
welcome, and liberally rewarded them for their 
services. But his triumph was brief. The ex- 
asperated savages inflicted a terrible retaliation. 
Discovering that the massacres they had at first 
attributed to their enemies, the Mohawks, were 
in reality committed by the whites, they sallied 
out in every direction, and, in a few days, almost 
depopulated the country around Manhattan. 
Villages were burned, farms desolated, men and 
women murdered, and children carried into cap- 
tivity. The Dutch colony was brought to the 
brink of ruin; and, in their terror, all the inha- 
bitants that could, sought safety by a return to 
Holland. 

Kieft was now compelled to sue for peace. 
Satisfied w^ith the vengeance they had inflicted, 
sixteen sachems of the Long Island tribes con- 
sented to meet a deputation of the colonists, 
at Rockaway, on the 5th of March, 1643. 
Having assembled around the council-fire, one 
of the chieftains presently arose, holding in his 
hand a bundle of little sticks, and thus addressed 
the Dutch envoys : 

"When you first arrived on our shores, you 
were destitute of food ; we gave you our beans 
and our corn; we fed you with oysters and fish; 



1643.] UNSUCCESSFUL NEGOTIATIONS. 41 

and now, for our recompense, jou murder our 
people." 

With these words the orator laid down one 
stick, thus indicating that this was his first 
charge. Continuing, he said : 

" The traders whom your first ships left on 
our shore to traffic till their return, were cherish- 
ed by us as the apple of our eye : We gave them 
our daughters for their wives : among those 
whom you have murdered, were children of your 
own blood." Having concluded his second com- 
plaint, the chief put down another stick, while 
many remained in his hand, to show the number 
of accusations that were still to come. 

Through the influence of Roger Williams, the 
Long Island sachems finally agreed upon a 
truce, and a month later, the Raritan and other 
river Indians likewise came to terms. Peace, 
however, lasted but a little while. It was hard 
for the savages to forget the injuries they had 
sustained — one had lost a father ; a second, a 
mother ; many, their children, kinsmen and 
friends ; they still nursed the hope of revenge. 
" The presents we have received," said an old 
chief, mournfully, ''bear no proportion to our 
loss — the price of blood has not been paid.' 

At length the discontent of the tribes broke 
out in a fresh war. In September a detachment 
of soldiers were taken prisoners, and in the 

following month the settlements near the mouth 

4^ 



42 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1644. 

of the Passaic were laid waste. Affairs now 
"became even more serious than they were in 
the previous disturbances. Driven from their 
plantations, the terrified colonists collected 
in the immediate neighbourhood of Fort Am- 
sterdam, where for nearly two years they linger- 
ed, sometimes on the brink of starvation, and 
momentarily fearing an attack that would end in 
their extermination. 

But whatever may have been the faults of 
Kieft, he did not lack spirit. Soon as the 
war was renewed, he bestirred himself to save 
the colony. Having vainly applied to the 
authorities of Connecticut for assistance, he 
hired Captain John Underhill, an English sol- 
dier, already famed as an Indian fighter, to 
take command of the Dutch troops. With a 
little army of one hundred and twenty men, 
Underhill entered upon a series of fierce and 
energetic measures. Partially beaten at times, 
and on other occasions seriously harassed, 
the courage of the Indians began to give way. 
Closely following up his lesser triumphs, Un- 
derhill, in 1644, made two sanguinary descents 
upon Long Island — in the first, killing near a 
hundred savages, and taking many prisoners ; 
while, in the second, he attacked an Indian 
town, set fire to it, and put to death five hun- 
dred of the inhabitants, who had assembled to 
celebrate one of their yearly festivals. 



1647.] PEACE CONCLUDED. 43 

With these victories the hopes of the colonists 
began to return. The Indians were weary of 
being hunted like wild beasts, and several of the 
tribes sued for peace. At length the West 
India Company were enabled to send a rein- 
forcement of troops to Manhattan, and Kieft de- 
termined upon a vigorous prosecution of hostili- 
ties. At this moment the Mohawks interposed, 
and sent an envoy to their friends, the Dutch, to 
exert his influence in favour of peace. His mis- 
sion succeeded. Delegates from the tribes of 
New Jersey, and other hostile nations, met in 
council with the authorities of New Netherland, 
in front of Fort Amsterdam, and on the oOth 
of August, 1645, a solemn treaty put an end to 
the war. 

The rejoicings of the colonists on this occa- 
sion were great, and they set apart a day for 
public praise and thanksgiving. Yet the memory 
of the troubles they had endured, and the losses 
they had suffered, pressed heavily on their 
minds, and fostered a desire for the removal of 
Kieft, whose rash and barbarous policy had in- 
volved them in so much diificulty. Complaints 
of his mismanagement at length reached the 
West India Company. Finding that their own 
interests would be advanced by a change of go- 
vernors, they finally sent out a recall to Kieft, 
and in the fall of 1647 he embarked for Hol- 
land. Encountering a furious storm, the ships 



44 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1647. 

in which he sailed was dashed ashore on the 
coast of Wales, and the merciless governor, to- 
gether with some eighty companions, was swal- 
lowed up in the waves. 



CHAPTER III. 



Governor Stuyvcsant — His character — His wise and cautious 
policy — Quarrel with New England — Belligerent desires of 
Stuyvesant — The West India Company counsel peace — Ne- 
gotiations opened — Provisional- treaty concluded — Second 
English attempt to found a colony on the Delaware frustrat- 
ed — Swedish colony threatened by Stuyvesant — Fort Cassi- 
mir constructed — Printz btiilds Fort Elsingburg — Rising 
governor of New Sweden — Takes Fort Cassimir by strata- 
gem — The Swedes conquered by Stuyvesant — Indian hos- 
tilities — Activity of Stuyvesant — Prosperous condition of 
New Netherland — Lord Baltimore claims the territory on 
the west bank of the Delaware — Its cession to the city of 
Amsterdam — Perilous position of Stuyvesant — Stringent 
regulations of the West India Company — Concessions de- 
manded by the people — Haughty reply of Stuyvesant — A 
popular assembly established — New Netherland granted to 
the Duke of York — Arrival of the English fleet — Stuyvesant 
summoned to surrender — Capitulation. 

In May, 1647, the governor appointed to suc- 
ceed Kieft arrived at New Amsterdam. His 
name was Stuyvesant, a brave and experienced 
soldier, honest, frank, and tolerably learned, but 
somewhat haughty in his bearing toward the 
poorer classes, of whom he did not profess to 
hold a very high opinion. Before receiving his 



1647.] TERRITORIAL QUARREL RENEWED. 45 

present commission he Lad held the office of vice- 
director at Caraccas, where his services had been 
such as to gain him the good regards of the 
West Indian Directory. 

The new governor promptly applied himself to 
averting the dangers which on all sides threaten- 
ed his province. Taught by the calamities of 
his predecessors, he wisely adopted a gentle and 
forbearing policy in his dealings with the natives, 
thus keeping the period of his administration 
almost undisturbed by Indian wars. His chief 
concern, however, was centered in the doubtful 
attitude assumed by the English and by the 
Swedes. 

Immediately after Stuyvesant's arrival, the 
commissioners of New England addressed him a 
letter of congratulation, concluding with an ear- 
nest appeal for reparation of the injuries they 
had received from Kieft. Without justifying 
all the acts of Kieft, Stuyvesant made a counter- 
claim for redress, and demanded a restoration 
of the Dutch territories on the Connecticut. 
The old territorial quarrel was thus renewed in 
all its bitterness. Already involved, the question 
now became more and more knotty, with little 
or no prospect of its happy solution. Never 
having admitted the title of the Dutch to any 
territory in America, the New England men ex- 
tended their settlements, even threatening to oc- 
cupy the banks of the Hudson. Protests and 



• 



46 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1651. 

counter protests drew hard words from both 
parties; and thefierj Stuyvesant would probably 
have resorted to arms, but the West India 
Company, to whom he applied for authority and 
assistance, earnestly counselled peace. ""VYar," 
said they, " cannot in any event be to our ad- 
vantage ; the New England people are too power- 
ful for us." 

Negotiation being the only course left him, 
Stuyvesant repaired to Hartford, where a con- 
vention of delegates, representing the interests 
of both nations, was presently held. After a 
series of lengthy discussions, on the 19th of 
September, 1650, a provisional treaty was con- 
cluded, making the boundary between the two 
colonies, to begin at Greenwich on the main, and 
at Oyster Bay, on Long Island. This inter- 
colonial treaty received the sanction of the 
States-General, and of the West India Company, 
but was never ratified by the British crown. 

The claim of the New Haven people to lands 
on Salem Creek was still undecided, and they 
now attempted for the second time to plant a 
colony in that region. Commissioned by Go- 
vernor Eaton, who gave them a friendly letter 
of explanation to Stuyvesant, a little company 
of emigrants sailed from Connecticut River for 
the Delaware, early in the spring of 1651 ; but 
stopping at Manhattan to deliver their message 
to Stuyvesant, they were arrested, and obliged 



1654.] FORT ELSINGBURa BUILT. 47 

to return to New Haven, whence they imme- 
diately addressed a petition to the New England 
commissioners, begging them to protect their 
persons and property, and to maintain "the 
honour of the English nation." Choosing rather 
i "to suffer affronts for a while, than to seem to 
I be too quick," the commissioners would not com- 
i mit themselves at that time, inasmuch as the 
governor of New Netherland had signified his 
determination to resist, at all hazards, every at- 
tempt to plant colonies upon the land in dispute. 
Uneasy at the progress of the Swedish settle- 
ments upon the Delaware, Stuyvesant now bent 
his efforts in that direction. For the protection 
of the Dutch commerce, already suffering from 
the restrictions imposed upon it by the Swedes, 
he built Fort Cassimir, near the mouth of 
Brandywine Creek, and not more than five miles 
from Christiana. Having issued an unheeded 
protest against this movement, Printz, who was 
Still governor of New Sweden, built Fort Elsing- 
burg, a little dista,nce below, on the eastern bank 
of the Delaware ; but a great swarm of musqui- 
toes presently falling upon the garrison, they 
were compelled to evacuate the newly-erected 
works. 

The proximity of Fort Cassimir to the Swedish 
garrison at Christiana, led to a series of petty 
quarrels, which were kept up until 1654, when 
John Rising, now governor of New Sweden, 



48 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1655. 

combining stratagem with a superiority in force, 
mastered the Dutch troops, and took possession 
of their fort. This grievous insult awoke the 
ire of the West India Company, who directed 
Stuyvesant to "revenge their wrong, to drive 
the Swedes from the river, or compel their sub- 
mission." Collecting a force of six hundred 
men, Stuyvesant appeared in the Delaware, in 
September, 1655. He first assailed and took 
Fort Elsingburg, which the Swedes had again 
occupied. Forts Cassimir and Holy Trinity were 
next reduced, and finally the victorious Dutch 
compelled the submission of Gottenburg, the 
capital of New Sweden, where Rising himself 
commanded. Honourable terms were granted to 
the vanquished Swedes, the peaceable possession 
of their estates being assured to them, upon con- 
dition that they would acknowledge the authority 
of the States-General. Thus fell, never to rise 
again, the only colonial establishment of Sweden 
in the New World. 

Upon his return from the Delaware, Stuyvesant 
found the colonists in a wretched state of terror 
and despondency. Taking advantage of the 
absence of so large a number of the warlike in- 
habitants, the river tribes in the vicinity of 
Manhattan had collected a fleet of over sixty 
canoes, laid waste the neighbouring farms, and 
even appeared in hostile array before New Am- 
sterdam. But the presence of Stuyvesant in- 



1660.] CLAIM OF LORD BALTIMORE. 49 

fused fresh courage into the breasts of the 
Manhattanese, and prompt and active measures 
were taken, which soon restored the colony to 
hope and confidence. 

It was now that for a time the Dutch were 
permitted to rejoice in the possession of New 
Netherland. Quiet and prosperity seemed at 
last to have crowned their efi'orts. Their power 
in America was apparently fixed upon a perma- 
nent foundation. But scarcely had this hope 
been entertained, when new dangers began to 
threaten their existence. The partially settled 
dispute with the New England colonies broke out 
with additional asperity ; and, while Stuyvesant 
was engaged in that direction, a fresh quarrel 
sprung up with the English in the south, who 
were preparing to wrest from his authority the 
lately-acquired territory of New Sweden. 

On the restoration of Charles II. to the throne 
of Great Britain, in 1660, Lord Baltimore, the 
proprietary of Maryland, insisted upon a right 
he had previously urged, to the whole territory 
claimed by the Dutch, westward of the Delaware 
River. Declaring that they had bought and co- 
lonized the lands in dispute long before Lord 
Baltimore's patent was in existence, the West 
India Company refused to yield up their posses- 
sions, and avowed their firm resolve '' to defend 
them, even to the spilling of blood." At length, 
fearful of encroachments from the south, they 



50 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1660. 

transferred the whole colony, extending from the 
falls at Trenton to Cape Henlopen, to the city 
of Amsterdam. 

At the same time, Massachusetts was claiming 
the Pacific for her western boundary, while Con- 
necticut advanced step by step toward the Hud- 
son. Stuyvesant saw the peril of his position. 
"Alas !" he wrote to the West India Company, 
''the English are as ten to one in number to us, 
and are able to deprive us of the country when 
they please." Resorting again to negotiation, 
he repaired in person to Boston, but effected 
nothing. A similar diplomatic mission to Hart- 
ford was equally barren of good. The English 
would not acknowledge the right of New Nether- 
land to any American territory at all. 

While thus New Netherland was threatened 
with dangers from without, the internal condi- 
tion of things was illy calculated to foster a ge- 
nuine public spirit. Unwise in their conceptions 
of government, the West India directors would 
allow no security for popular rights and privi- 
leges, such as were enjoyed by the people of 
New England. Clinging to arbitrary power, 
they insisted on making the laws of the colony, 
appointing its officers, and deciding all its con- 
troversies. Little alteration had been made in 
the original plan of government, and such changes 
as were wrought by the growth and widen- 
ing interests of the province, related wholly to 



1663.] STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM. 51 

commercial privileges, and not to political en- 
franchisement. Transplanted to New Nether- 
land by emigrants from the English colonies, the 
notion of popular freedom took deep root in the 
minds of the people of the province, and they 
entered into an earnest struggle to ameliorate 
their political condition. A convention met at 
New Amsterdam, in 1663, and, among other 
things, demanded that the people should share 
in the enactment of those laws by which they 
were governed. Having exhausted his arguments 
against this demand, Stuyvesant, who had but 
little faith in " the wavering multitude," com- 
manded the convention to separate, under a 
threat of severe punishment. "We," said the 
proud governor to the retiring members, " We 
derive our authority from God and the West 
India Company, and not from the pleasure of a 
few ignorant subjects." And in this haughty 
and overbearing assumption he was fully sus- 
tained by the company. " Have no regard to 
the will of the people," said they, in their in- 
structions ; " let them no longer indulge the vi- 
sionary dream that taxes can be imposed only 
with their consent." But the desire of the peo- 
ple for political freedom was not to be easily 
rooted out ; and many were found willing to yield 
quietly to English rule, if they could but obtain 
a share in the rights and privileges of their Pu- 
ritan neighbours. 



52 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY [1664. 

It was when the colonists were in this state of 
indifference, that dangers began to thicken around 
New NetherLand. Conscious that it was now 
necessary to create a spirit of patriotism, Stuy- 
vesant became more and more willing to enlarge 
the privileges of the masses, and in 1663 he 
conceded a poplar assembly. But the concession 
came too late to effect its object. Rumours of a 
threatened invasion from England found the 
people still indifferent, and disposed to shift upon 
the West India Company all care for the inte- 
grity of the province. 

At length rumour became certainty. Disre- 
garding the claims of Holland, Charles II. of 
England, in the year 1664, granted to his bro- 
ther James, Duke of York and Albany, a patent 
for territories in which was comprised the pro- 
vince of New Netherland. An armament, con- 
sisting of three ships, with one hundred and 
thirty guns, and six hundred men, was imme- 
diately made ready, and sent to take possession 
of the countries named in the patent to the Duke 
of York. Colonel Nicholls, who had served 
under the celebrated Turenne, was placed in com- 
mand of the invading force, with authority to 
act as governor of the province when it should 
be subjugated. Having touched at Boston, where 
instructions were left to raise a body of troops to 
join the expedition, the fleet sailed for the Hud- 



1664.] SURRENDER OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 53 

son River, and arrived in front of New Amster- 
dam on the 27th of August, 1664. 

Soon as the English armament appeared, a 
deputation from Stuyvesant and the city bore a 
letter to Nicholls, desiring, " with all respect and 
civility," to know the motive of his presence. 
The British commander replied by demanding of 
Stuyvesant the immediate recognition of English 
sovereignty, at the same time offering security 
to the lives, liberties, and estates, of all who 
would quietly submit. 

Though greatly outnumbered by the English, 
Stuyvesant was yet loth to surrender without a 
struggle. At the first rumour of the designs of 
Britain, he had spiritedly proposed that every 
third man should be called into service, ^' as had 
more than once been done in fatherland." And 
now, when summoned to surrender, he invited the 
burgomasters and council of the city to meet 
him, and vainly endeavoured to infuse into them 
some portion of his own martial spirit. But, 
believing that they would in the end be conquer- 
ed, the peaceful burghers could see no use in 
prolonging a contest, which might cost them 
much blood and treasure, with no corresponding 
return. They asked to see the summons of the 
English commander. Knowing that they would 
eagerly accept the terms it offered, Stuyvesant 
hesitated and then refused. Again and again 
they urged their request, when, enraged at their 

5* 



54 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1664. 

importunity, the passionate governor tore the 
letter in fragments, and dashed it at the feet of 
the startled burghers. 

For several days longer, Stuyvesant sturdily 
held out — now negotiating, and again assuming an 
attitude of defiance. Nicholls had threatened to 
inflict the horrors of war, in case of a refusal to 
surrender. ''Touching your threat," was Stuy- 
vesant's undaunted reply, " we have nothing to 
answer, only that we fear nothing, but what God, 
who is just and merciful, shall lay upon us, all 
things being in his gracious disposal ; and we may 
as well b,e preserved by him with small forces as 
by a great army — which makes us to wish you 
all happiness and prosperity, and to recommend 
you to his protection." But this show of confi- 
dence was of little avail; and, at length, beset 
by dissensions within, and a numerous enemy 
without, the old governor reluctantly consented 
to terms of honourable capitulation. The re- 
maininor forts on the Delaware and Hudson soon 
after surrendered, and the whole of New Nether- 
land fell quietly into the possession of England. 



I 



1664.] BERKELEY AND CARTERET. 55 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Duke of York's patent to Ber'iteley and Carteret — The 
province of ]\ew Jersey — Liberal policy of the proprietaries 
— Their concessions to popular freedom — Nicholls governor 
of New York — His activity in colonizing New Albania — 
Carteret appointed governor of New Jersey — Establishes his 
capital at Elizabethtown — Inducements held out to settlers — 
Rapid increase in population — Puritan settlen:ient on the 
Passaic — Threatened by the Hackensack Indians — Peace 
restored — Newark founded — Narrow policy of the colonists 
from Connecticut — First legislative session of New Jersey — 
Partial adoption of the harsh New England code — Local 
rights of self-government claimed — Opposition to quit rents 
— Great disaffection throughout the province — A new as- 
sembly constituted — Deposition of the governor — Carteret 
sails for England — Carteret's authority confirmed — Power 
of the assembly curtailed — War between England and Hol- 
land — Capture of New York by the Dutch — Its restoration 
to the English, 

Nearly two months previous to the conquest 
of New Netherland, the Duke of York, in con- 
sideration *' of a competent sum of money," had 
assigned to Lork Berkeley and Sir George Carte- 
ret, favourite courtiers of the king, all that por- 
tion of the province lying westward of Long 
Island, and bounded on the west by the Dela- 
ware, on the east by the Hudson and the main 
ocean, and on the north by the forty-first degree 
and fortieth minute of latitude. To this region 



56 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1664. 

was given the name of Nova Caesaria, or New 
Jersey, out of compliment to Carteret, who, in 
164:9, had gallantly defended the little Isle of 
Jersey, of which he was then governor, against 
the forces of the Long Parliament. 

The first care of the proprietaries was to peo- 
ple their province. Wisely foreseeing that a 
policy favourable to popular freedom Avould best 
promote that end, they drew up and published, 
as the fundamental law of the colony, a paper 
of "Concessions and Agreement," the general 
tone of which was highly liberal. To all actual 
settlers they offered tracts of land, varying in 
extent from sixty to one hundred and fifty acres, 
according to the time of their arrival in the 
province, and to the number of their bound ser- 
vants and slaves. An annual quit-rent of a 
half-penny the acre was to be required for their 
allotments after the year 1670. A governor and 
council of twelve, nominated by the proprie- 
taries, and an equal number, at least, of repre- 
sentatives chosen by the people, were to consti- 
tute the legislative assembly. The enactments 
of this body were to be subject to the approval 
of the proprietaries, who also reserved to them- 
selves the appointment of judicial ofl&cers. No 
taxes were to be levied, except with the authority 
and consent of the colonial assembly. Freedom 
of conscience and worship was guarantied to all 
citizens, provided that freedom was not used " to 



1664.] ERECTED INTO A PROVINCE. 57 

licentiousness, and to the civil injury or outward 
discomfort of others." Ample provision was 
made for the support of clergymen, to be ap- 
pointed by the colonial assembly ; but permission 
was at the same time allowed the colonists to as- 
sociate for the maintenance of such ministers as 
they might prefer. 

The territory thus erected into a province, 
with such security for the liberties of its. settlers, 
was then scarcely more than an uninhabited 
wilderness. Its native population was by no 
means large, and consisted of a few scattered 
clans of the inoffensive Delawares. With the 
exception of the little hamlet of Bergen, nothing 
that could be called a town had resulted from 
the various attempts to establish European set- 
tlements. In the neighbourhood of Bergen, and 
along the western shore of Newark Bay, the 
plantations of the Dutch were numerous, while 
here and there, through the present counties of 
Gloucester and Burlington, a few Swedish farm- 
ers had built their cabins, and cleared lands for 
cultivation. At Long Point, opposite Mattini- 
cunk Island, where Burlington now stands, three 
Dutch families had established themselves, form- 
ing the largest collection of civilized habitations 
in all West Jersey. 

Immediately after the surrender of New Ne- 
therland, Nicholls assumed the government of 
the province, as lieutenant of the Duke of York. 



58 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1665. 

Ignorant of the transfer of New Jersey, he pre- 
pared to colonize the eastern portion of it, to 
which he gave the name of Albania. With his 
sanction, an extensive territory, bordering upon 
Newark Bay, was purchased from the Indians by 
a few New England Puritans, who settled on it 
during the year 1664. In the spring of 1665 a 
similar patent was issued, under the same sanc- 
tion, for the country from the mouth of the Ra- 
ritan to Sandy Hook ; and, before Nicholls could 
be informed of the change of ownership, he was 
able to congratulate himself, that, '' on the new 
purchases from the Indians, three towns were 
already beginning." 

The hasty zeal of Nicholls to colonize his 
cherished Albania, *' preferable to all the re- 
maining tracts," led to long and tedious litiga- 
tion, which seriously disturbed the tranquillity of 
the province for more than half a century. 

Meanwhile, Philip Carteret, a brother to one 
of the proprietaries, having been commissioned 
as governor of New Jersey, was making prepa- 
rations to depart for the western world. Sailing 
from England in the ship Philip, and accompanied 
by about thirty emigrants, he arrived in the pro- 
vince some time during the month of August, 
1665. Carrying in his hand a hoe, to remind 
his little company of the design that had brought 
them across the ocean, he landed at a place to 
which the name of Elizabethtown was presently 



1665.] INDUCEMENTS TO SETTLERS. 59 

given, in honour of the kind-hearted Lady Carte- 
ret. Four families from New England had 
already made here one of the "beginnings" 
spoken of by Nicholls, who now warmly urged 
the Duke of York to revoke the grant, by which, 
without knowing it, he had given away the fair- 
est portion of his province. But it was too 
late. Satisfied with the freedom they enjoyed, 
the colonists did not second his appeals. The 
independent existence of New Jersey was se- 
cured. 

Having elevated his little village of log huts 
to the dignity of a provincial capital, Carteret 
actively bestirred himself to augment the popu- 
lation and prosperity of the colony under his 
charge. Messengers were sent abroad to set 
forth the happy situation of the province, the 
liberality of its institutions, the cheapness of 
its lands, the richness and fertility of the soil 
along its rivers, its mild and healthy climate, 
the peaceful character of its few aboriginal in- 
habitants, and its nearness to long-established 
colonies, by which the distresses of an adven- 
turer into a new country would be done away 
with. Seconded by all these recommenda- 
tions, the efi'orts of Carteret were followed by 
surprising success. From New England, Long 
Island, and from Great Britain, the province 
soon received large additions to its population. 
Elizabethtown, and then Middletown and Shrews- 



60 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1666. 

bury, all founded before the coming of Carteret, 
grew up into thriving villages, the two latter still 
retaining certain local powers of self-government 
which had been granted to them by Nicholls. 
No less thriving were the settlements of Pisca- 
tawa and AVoodbridge, established during the 
year 1666, by emigrants from New England. 

Early in the same year, an association of 
church members, from three several towns in 
Connecticut, sailed into the Passaic, and landed 
at a point previously selected, "beyond the 
marshes lying to the north of Elizabethtown." 
Scarcely had the emigrants brought their goods 
from shipboard, when a party of Hackensac In- 
dians appeared on the ground, claiming the soil 
as their own, and insisting that it should be paid 
for before the settlement could go on. Having 
selected the tract in expectation that Carteret 
was authorized to extinguish the Indian title, the 
disheartened colonists prepared to abandon their 
enterprise ; but, at the earnest request of the 
governor, they agreed to hold a council with the 
natives, from whom they purchased the territory 
comprising more than one-half the present county 
of Essex, paying for it in goods and wampum, 
valued at about one hundred and forty pounds. 
New England currency. Having thus settled 
their difficulty with the Indians, the emigrants 
immediately began to erect a town, to which they 
presently gave the name of Newark. Constitut- 



' 1668.] FIRST LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY. 61 

ing themselves on the narrow and intolerant 
j principle of withholding certain political rights 
from all persons not subscribing to the doctrines 
I "of some one of the Congregational churches," 
! thej resolved, ''with one heart and consent," "to 
carry on their spiritual concernments, as well as 
their civil and town affairs, according to God and 
a godlj government;" and to be ruled "by such 
I officers as the town should annually choose from 
I among themselves," under "the same laws as 
they had in the place from whence they came." 
The influence of the Puritan emigrants was 
felt in the first assembly of New Jersey, which 
commenced its session at Elizabethtown, on the 
26th, and closed on the 30th of May, 1668. 
Transferring the maiuv points of the New Eng- 
land codes to the statute-book of the province, a 
bill of pains and penalties was passed, closely 
copying the heretical law, and making twelve 
crimes, under certain circumstances, punishable 
with death. But little additional business was 
completed, several bills being left over to the en- 
suing session, which opened on the 3d of No- 
vember in the same year. During this session 
no acts of importance were carried through, 
from a want of harmony between the two 
branches of the assembly. There were besides 
other signs of approaching trouble. Resting on 
the ground of their local rights of self-govern- 
ment, the towns of Shrewsbury and Middletown 



62 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1670. 

now denied the authority of the assembly, by 
refusincr to allow the collection of certain taxes 
which had been levied in accordance with an en- 
actment of the previous session. As they had 
been represented in the popular branch, this 
proceeding was a singular one, and showed far 
more independence than consistency. Having 
refused to take the usual oaths of allegiance to 
the province, their deputies to the second meet- 
ing of the assembly were refused admittance. 
Here the matter appears to have rested for a 
time ; but other and greater troubles were soon 
to follow. 

For nearly eighteen months afterward, how- 
ever, affairs went on with tolerable smoothness, 
and the province continued to increase in popu- 
lation and importance. But when the first pay- 
ment of the quit-rents was called for, on the 
25th of March, 1670, the smothered discontent 
of the colonists broke out in violent opposition 
to the demand. Foremost to treat the claim of 
the proprietaries with contempt, were the early 
settlers of Elizabethtown. They had come into 
the country, with the sanction of Nicholls, be- 
fore the transfer of New Jersey to its present 
proprietors. They had purchased their lands 
from the Indian and rightful owners of the soil, 
and the title they had thus acquired was, accord- 
ing to their notions, far superior to any right 
the proprietaries could have. Co^.i'^cqiiently, 



1672.] OPPOSITION TO QUIT-EENTS. 63 

they would pay no quit-rents. Other settlers, 
who had arrived in the province at a later pe- 
riod, pretended to class themselves with these ; 
and in a short time the whole colony was in a 
tumult of litigation. For two years matters 
continued to grow more and more confused, until 
the political condition of the province was almost 
one of complete anarchy. 

In May, 1672, the disaffected colonists even 
went so far as to constitute a new assembly, by 
which body the proprietary governor was dis- 
placed, and a successor appointed in the person 
of James Carteret, a worthless natural son of 
Sir George. Proclamations were immediately 
issued against this proceeding, but they availed 
nothing. All power had gone over to the usurper. 
At length, finding his authority disregarded, his 
officers imprisoned and their estates confiscated, 
the governor followed the advice of his council, 
and proceeded to England, leaving John Berry 
to act as deputy in his absence. 

At the request of the proprietaries, the Duke 
of York soon after sent out a letter unfavour- 
able to the claims of the colonists. This was 
followed by one from the king, confirming the 
authority of Carteret, and requiring obedience 
I to the officers appointed by the lords' proprie- 
tors. New "concessions" were also drawn up, 
somewhat curtailing the original powers of the 
; assembly, by transferring to the governor and 



64 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1673. 

council the sole right of approving such ministers 
as might be nominated by the several towns, and 
of regulating the meetings and adjournments of 
the legislature. 

At the same time a period was fixed of three 
years from 1673, at the expiration of which all 
quit-rents were to be paid up, and the malecon- 
tents to submit to the terms of the proprietaries. 
But, before the appointed time came round, war 
broke out between England and Holland. The 
States-General immediately despatched a small 
squadron to harass the commerce of the British 
colonies. Having captured many English tra- 
ders homeward-bound from Virginia, they de- 
termined to attempt the re-capture of New York. 
Governor Lovelace was absent, and Captain 
Manning, with a company of regulars, in com- 
mand of the fort. At the first summons of the 
Dutch, who appeared before New York late in 
July, 1673, Manning surrendered. Exercising 
moderation in the hour of their triumph, the 
forces of the States-General easily gained the 
submission of the remaining parts of the pro- 
vince. New Jersey, and the settlements on the 
Delaware, quietly followed their example, and 
New Netherland again enjoyed a momentary 
existence. 

Having thus reconquered their American co- 
lony, the Dutch immediately prepared a code of 
mild and liberal laws for its regulation. But 



1674.] NEW NETHERLAND RESTORED. 65 

scarcely had the new code gone into general 
operation, when peace was concluded between 
Holland and Great Britain, on the 9th of Feb- 
ruary, 1674. By the sixth article of this treaty, 
a mutual restoration of conquests was agreed 
upon ; and, on the 31st of the following Octo- 
ber, New Netherland was finally transferred to 
England. 



CHAPTER Y. 

The Duke of York confirmed in his title to New York — An- 
dros appointed governor — Petition of New Jersey — The 
Quakers punished as recusants — Unjust charges against 
them — Their principles proscribed — Their persecution in 
England — Advised to settle in America — Salem settled — 
Governments of Fenwicke and Carteret — The boundaries of 
East and West New Jersey established — Constitution pro- 
mulgated—Its liberal concessions — Emigration of wealthy 
Quakers — Anecdote of Charles II. — Difficulty with Andros, 
governor of New York — Burlington settled — Fear of Indian 
hostilities — A special treaty entered into — Speech of an 
Indian sachem — Progress of the colony — Increase of popu- 
lation. 

Upon the final relinquishment of New Nether- 
land by the United Provinces, the Duke of York 
procured a new patent from the king, in order 
to quiet certain doubts that had arisen with re- 
gard to the validity of his title, which the pre- 
vious surrender to the Dutch was thought to 

6* 



66 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1674. 

have impaired. Two days after this patent was 
executed, on the 1st of July, 1674, the duke 
commissioned Edmund Andros as governor of 
New York and "its dependencies." These in- 
cluded '' all the lands from the west bank of 
Connecticut River to the eastern shore of 
Delaware Bay." 

Much trouble subsequently resulted from this 
commission, and it has been thought that the 
duke, while conferring it, designed to revoke his 
grants to the New Jersey proprietaries. But, 
if such was his dishonourable intention, he 
lacked resolution to fulfil it ; for toward the end 
of the same month he renewed the title of Sir 
George Carteret to a moiety of the province, of 
which an informal partition was at this time 
made. Previously, on the 18th of March, 1673, 
Berkeley, now an old man, disappointed in his 
hopes of colonial aggrandizement, had sold out 
his share to John Fenwicke and Edward Byllinge, 
for the sum of one thousand pounds. 

Both these purchasers were members of the 
Society of Friends, or Quakers, a religious body 
destined to exercise an important influence over 
the settlement and future character of the 
province. 

Arising in England in 1644, at a time when 
men's minds were more than usually disposed to 
active inquiry into the deeper questions of religion 
as well as of civil government, the sect of people 



1674.] PERSECUTION OF QUAKERS. 67 

called Quakers soon became distinguished for 
the spirit and boldness with which they conduct- 
ed their investigations. Nor was the pure and 
genuine piety of much the greater part of the 
new community considered less remarkable. 
There were many others, however, who, mis- 
1, taking their own wild impulses for the direct 
' promptings of the Holy Spirit, frequently com- 
I mitted acts justly to be called extravagant, of- 
j fensive to the proprieties of life, and not wholly 
I without injury to the public peace. 

The mad zeal of these enthusiastic visionaries 
finally brought them in collision with the state 
authorities, and during the last years of Crom- 
w'ell's protectorate, severe measures were taken 
against them. Punished rather as religious 
"recusants," than as oiFenders against the pub- 
lic peace, it was not long before they could claim 
the merit of suffering for conscience' sake. But 
persecution only increased their numbers and in- 
flamed their zeal. 

Soon after the restoration of Charles II., this 
persecution was renewed, though the members 
of the society were now inclined to disavow their 
connections with these fanatics, to whom they 
presently gave the name of ''Ranters." Not- 
withstanding the plain and unequivocal teaching 
of their founder, that it was unlawful to use 
carnal weapons in advancing spiritual objects, 
they were unjustly charged with holding to the 



68 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1674. 

doctrine of the Millennarians, or Fifth Monarchy 
Men, that even force might be employed in 
overturning those temporal powers, supposed to 
be in the way of the coming spiritual and divine 
dominion. 

Under this impression Charles proscribed their 
principles as being "inconsistent. with any kind 
of government," and a sharp law was enacted 
against them as "an abominable sect." 

The king himself early changed the hasty and 
mistaken opinion he had formed of the Quakers, 
for a truer and more liberal view of their doc- 
trines. He even entered into a familiar and in- 
timate acquaintance with some of their promi- 
nent leaders. But this did not soften the rigour 
of the penal enactments against them. Ha- 
rassed on all sides by special statute, by the ge- 
neral laws against dissenters, and by the statute 
against Roman Catholics, they were thrown into 
the foulest dungeons, scourged, exiled, sold into 
colonial bondage, stripped of their estates, and 
even deprived of life itself by the carelessness 
or inhumanity of their jailers. 

It was when this persecution was at its height 
that George Fox, the founder of the Society of 
Friends, returned to England from a missionary 
tour through the American colonies. 

To testify to their faith, the Quakers shrank 
from no suJBfering, however great. Some, in the 
exuberance of their zeal, were willing to court it. 



1674.] QUAKER COLONIZATION. 69 

But the more quiet members of the society were 
of the opinion that to avoid persecution without 
abandoning the tenets of their religion, was not 
to be judged as wrongful. It is probable that 
on his return to England, Fox represented to 
them the advantages to be enjoyed under the 
tolerant constitution of New Jersey, where they 
might hope for peace and security in the practice 
of their faith. Preferring voluntarily expatria- 
tion to a forced exile, numbers immediately pre- 
pared to escape to the land thrown open to 
them by the sale already noticed. 

Understanding that Carteret was to retain the 
northern part of the province, Fenwicke and 
Byllinge determined upon colonizing the south- 
western portion along the Delaware. Two years 
passed away, however, before any settlement was 
made. Meantime, a sharp quarrel sprung up 
between the new purchasers with regard to their 
respective interests in the territory. Shunning 
the scandal of a law-suit, they left the decision 
of the question to William Penn. Penn's award 
was finally acceded to, after some hesitation on 
the part of Fenwicke, who received one-tenth 
of the purchase as his share. 

Byllinge, failing in business soon after, was 
obliged to transfer his interest for the benefit 
of his Creditors, to Penn, Gawen Laurie, and 
Nicholas Lucas. With the concurrence of Fen- 
wicke, these trustees presently divided the whole 



70 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1676. 

proprietorship into one hundred shares, of which 
the ninety belonging to Byllinge were offered for 
sale. 

Matters having been thus arranged, in 1675, 
Fenwicke, with a large company and several 
families, set sail from London, in the ship Grif- 
fin. A short and pleasant passage brought the 
adventurers into Delaware Bay, on the eastern 
shore of which, at its head, they landed near the 
site of one of the old Swedish forts. From the 
fair and peaceful aspect of the place, they gave 
the name of Salem to their new settlement. 
Having purchased lands from the natives, Fen- 
wicke proceeded to portion them out among the 
several emigrants, and took upon himself the 
authority of the province. 

Early in the same year, Philip Carteret quiet- 
ly resumed the government of his kinsman's 
share of the province. By postponing the pay- 
ment of the quit-rents, he induced the colonists 
to accept without murmuring, and even with an 
appearance of satisfaction, the new and less 
popular concessions sent out by the proprietary. 

In November, the second regular assembly 
met. Having adopted several measures for the 
well-being and orderly management of the colo- 
ny, they concluded their session with an act of 
amnesty and free pardon to all persons concern- 
ed in the late disturbances. 

Early in 1676, the assembly again convened, 



1676.] DIVISION OF THE STATE. 71 

but nothing of historical importance was passed. 
With the exception of some slight symptoms of 
dissatisfaction with regard to the quit-rents, af- 
fairs went on smoothly, and there was a prospect 
of long-continued quiet. 

At length, on the first of July, a formal divi- 
sion of New Jersey was agreed to by Carteret. 
From the ocean, at Little Egg Harbour, a line 
was drawn to a point on the Delaware River, in 
the neighbourhood of forty-one degrees north 
latitude ; the country north and east of which 
remained in the possession of Carteret, with the 
title of East New Jersey, while the other section 
was assigned in severalty to the Quaker proprie- 
taries, under the title of West New Jersey. 

Meanwhile, these proprietaries had prepared 
in England, a code of fundamental laws for the 
province. "We lay," wrote Penn and his col- 
leagues to the colonists, <^ we lay a foundation 
for after ages to understand their liberty as 
Christians and as men, that they may not be 
brought into bondage but by their own consent; 
for we put the power in the people." 

The Quaker «< concessions and agreements" 
were first made public on the 3d of March, 1676. 
Entire freedom of conscience, universal suffrage, 
and voting by ballot were fully established. 
None could be imprisoned for debt. Orphans 
were to be educated at the public expense. "All 
and every person in the province" was, "by 



72 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1676. 

the help of the Lord and these fundamentals, 
to be free from oppression and slavery." Hu- 
mane and just regulations were framed to pro- 
tect the native inhabitants against encroach- 
ments. 'No attorney or counsellor was required 
in the management of courts. For the govern- 
ment of the province, the people were to elect 
an assembly, each member of which was to be 
paid one shilling a day, "that he might be 
known as a servant of the people." The chief 
executive power was confided to ten commission- 
ers, to be chosen by the assembly. That body 
was also to appoint the judges, who retained 
their offices but two years, sitting in court only 
as assistants to the jury, in which, alone, resided 
the authority to make decisions, whether as to 
the law or the fact. 

Such are the main features of the first poli- 
tical constitution drawn up by members of the 
Society of Friends. While many may point out 
defects, the instrument, viewed as a whole, is 
yet worthy of hearty approval and commenda- 
tion. Far in advance of any system of govern- 
ment then in existence, it contrasted favourably 
with that even of the eastern province, which 
was avowedly popular and concessive. To its 
framers may justly be awarded no slight partici- 
pation in the honour of having laid the founda- 
tion of civil and religious freedom in the new 
world. 



1677.] DIFFICULTY WITH ANDROS. 73 

Pursuant to tlie plan of the concessions, 
Thomas Olive and others were presently appoint- 
ed as commissioners, to superintend the colony, 
to which two companies of emigrants, princi- 
pally wealthy Friends from Yorkshire and Lon- 
don, were already prepared to remove. 

During the summer of 1677, these commis- 
sioners, accompanied by a large body of settlers, 
embarked on board the ship Kent, at London. 
While the vessel was anchored in the Thames, 
preparatory to sailing, the king chanced to come 
by in his pleasure-barge. Remarking the plain 
garb of the men of peace, Charles came along- 
side, and, having learned that they were all 
Quakers, destined for the colony of New Jersey, 
he blessed them, and gave them his good wishes. 

After a long and tiresome passage, the Kent 
was brought to anchor within Sandy Hook, from 
which place the commissioners proceeded on a 
visit to the governor of New York. Received 
with all courtesy by Andros, they informed him 
of their design. Claiming jurisdiction over 
New Jersey, Andros demanded whether they 
had a warrant from the Duke of York. On 
their answering in the negative, he refused to 
recognise their authority. They offered to re- 
monstrate. Pointing significantly to his sword, 
the arbitrary governor intimated the extent to 
which he would oppose them. The peace-loving 
commissioners were silenced. Finally, however, 



74 HISTOKY OF NEW JERSEY. [1677. 

Andros gave them a warrant from himself, until 
the Matter could be referred for decision to 
England- 

Meanwhile, the main body of the colonists had 
entered the Delaware. Procuring interpreters 
from among the Swedish settlers planted near 
the present eite of Swedesborough, they pur- 
chased from the Indians three large and con- 
tiguous tracts of land, extending from Old 
Man's Creek to the falls at Trenton. 

Two distinct settlements were at first proposed, 
but it was finally determined to join together 
and form one town. Accordingly, on the tract 
between Bancocas Creek and the falls, a town 
was presently laid out, to which the name of 
New Beverly was first applied, then Bridlington, 
and afterward Burlington, which it still retains. 
A main street having been cleared, along this 
the settlers began to erect their dwellirigs, the 
Yorkshire proprietors on the eastern side, and 
those from London on the west. 

Winter was wellnigh over before these houses 
could be made habitable. In the mean time the 
settlers sheltered themselves in rude huts, built 
in imitation of the wigwams of the natives. For 
a meeting-house, a tent of sail-cloth was early 
set up. Under this the Quakers began to hold 
religious union. 

The simple-hearted savages in the neighbour- 
hood were unusually kind to the new comers, 



1677.] SPEECH or an Indian sachem. 75 

supplying them plentifully with corn and venison. 
Hostilities were subsequently threatened by the 
Indians, on the ground that the strangers had 
sold them the small-pox along with certain match- 
coats. Apprehending trouble, the colonists 
sought the assurance of a special treaty, and a 
peace-council was shortly held with the Indian 
kings, under the shades of the Burlington forests. 
The English having made known their fears, an 
old sachem rose, and, speaking for his brethren, 
said : — 

^' Some of our young men may utter such 
words as neither you nor we approve. We 
cannot help that. You cannot help it. We are 
your brothers. We have no mind to make war. 
When we have war we are but skin and bone. 
The meat that we eat doth do us no good. The 
kind sun cannot shine upon us, for we then hide 
us in holes and corners. 

"When we intend to make war upon you, we 
will let you know of it, and the reason ; that 
whatever wrong you have done us may be re- 
paired. If you give us no satisfaction, then we 
will make war. You, likewise, will act in this 
way with us. Otherwise, there should be no 
war. * 

" You are our brothers, and we wish to live 
like brothers with you. We will leave a broad 
path for you and us to walk in. If an Indian 
is asleep in this path, the Englishman shall pass 



76 HISTORY OF NEW JEKSEY. [1678. 

by and do him no harm. If an Englishman falls 
asleep in this path, the Indian shall pass him by, 
and say, ' He is an Englishman ; he is asleep ; 
let him alone ; he loves sleep.' The path shall 
be plain ; there shall not be in this path a stump 
to hurt the feet. 

" As to the small-pox, it came in the time of 
my grandfather ; it came in the time of my 
father ; and now in my time it is come." Then 
stretching his hands toward heaven, he continued, 
" I do believe that it is the Man above that hath 
sent it to us." 

A good understanding having been established 
with the Indians, by this and subsequent coun- 
cils, the colony soon assumed a thriving appear- 
ance. Constant accessions were made to the 
number of its inhabitants. In November, 1677, 
the ship Willing Mind, from London, landed 
about seventy emigrants, some of whom settled 
at Salem, others at Burlington. She was soon 
after followed by the fly-boat Martha, with one 
hundred and fourteen passengers from Yorkshire. 
On the 10th of December, of the succeeding 
year, came the Shields, from Hull. Gliding up 
the Delaw^are, with a fair and fresh breeze, her 
passengers admired the surrounding country, 
and especially pointed out, as a " fine spot for a 
town," the lands upon which Philadelphia has 
since arisen. Passing by this, the gale swept 
them on to Burlington, so far as which no vessel 



1678.] PROCEEDINGS OE ANDROS. 77 

had hitherto sailed. Mooring that night to a 
tree in front of the town, her astonished pas- 
sengers, on the following morning, walked 
ashore, with the hard frozen river beneath their 
feet. 



CHAPTER VL 

Dispute between New York and East New Jersey — Arbitrary 
conduct of Andros — Claims jurisdiction over New Jersey — 
Carteret refuses to resign his government — His arrest — 
Tried at New York and acquitted — Andros attempts to con- 
trol the assembly of East New Jersey — Their spirited re- 
sponse — Heavy tax on imports — Remonstrance of the New 
Jersey proprietaries — Their complaints referred to commis- 
sioners — The tax pronounced illegal — The Duke of York 
relinquishes his claim to govern New Jersey — Byllinge go- 
vernor of West New Jersey — Appoints Jennings deputy- 
governor — First legislative assembly convenes — Adoption of a 
constitution — Burlington erected the capital of the province 
— The assembly maintains its prerogative — Amendment 
of the constitution — Jennings elected governor — Is sent to 
England — Olive governor — Byllinge appoints John Skene 
deputy-governor — Death of Byllinge — Sale of his interest 
in New Jersey — Dr. Coxe claims entire executive control — 
A change foreshadowed. 

While the Quaker colony was settled under 
auspices which promised a fair prospect of rapid 
and substantial growth, difficulties were springing 
up in East New Jersey, that in the end, for a 
while, disturbed the tranquillity of the whole 
province. ^^ 



78 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1680. 

To foster a spirit of commercial enterprise 
among his people, Governor Carteret prepared 
to open a direct trade with England, unencum- 
bered by custom. Opposing what he styled an 
infringement of his master's rights, Andros, 
then governor of New York, ordered that no 
ship should land on the Jersey shore, until it 
had first paid an impost duty at Manhattan. 
On the death of Sir George Carteret, in 1679, 
he took a bolder step, and claimed jurisdiction 
over the province. Recurring to the terms of 
his original commission, he called upon Carte- 
ret to lay down his authority. Unexpected as 
this demand was, the governor maintained a 
fearless and unshaken front. *'It was by his 
majesty's command," he replied, ''that this go- 
vernment was established. Without that com- 
mand, it shall never be resigned but with our 
lives and fortunes." 

On the 7th of April, 1680, Andros, attended 
by his councillors, and a few leading merchants 
of New York, presented himself at Elizabeth- 
town. Courteously received by Carteret, he at 
once unfolded to him the object of his visit, and 
endeavoured to induce him to resign his govern- 
ment. Finding all his arguments vain, he some- 
what abruptly withdrew, warning the inhabitants 
that if they did not comply with his demand, 
the peril would rest upon them alone. 

Regardless of the hospitable welcome he had 



1680.] TRIAL OF CARTERET. 79 

received, Anclros, on the 30th of April, de- 
spatched a file of soldiers to Elizabethtown, to 
capture Carteret. Entering the governor's 
mansion at a late hour of the night, they drag- 
ged him rudely from his bed, and carried him, 
bruised and maltreated, to New York, vrhere he 
was kept in close confinement until the 27th of 
the following month. ^ 

On that day Andros summoned a special 
court, himself being chief justice. When placed 
on trial, Carteret fearlessly avowed that he had 
refused to surrender his authority. He then 
demanded his release on parole, and protested 
bitterly against being tried by a court, of which 
his accuser was also judge. When the jury re- 
turned w^ith a verdict of "Not guilty," Andros, 
with violence of language, charged them anew, 
and ordered them to reconsider their verdict. 
Twice was this scene renewed ; but the jury, 
faithful to their duty and their honour, persisted 
in finding an acquittal. Carteret, however, was 
detained in custody until the controversy could 
be decided in England. 

At once taking advantage of this virtual de- 
position, Andros again entered East New Jersey 
and appeared before its assembly. His power 
was such as to awe its members ; but they 
evinced no disposition to yield to his arbitrary 
will* He endeavoured to intimidate them by 
exhibiting the king's patent to the Duke of 



80 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1680. 

York. '< We are the representatives of the free- 
holders of tlH province," was their reply. " His 
majesty's patent, though under the great seal 
of England, we dare not grant to be our rule or 
joint safety; for the great charter of England 
is the only rule, privilege, and joint safety of 
every free-born Englishman." Their answer 
breathed the firmness of freemen, and the inde- 
pendence of New Jersey remained intact. 

Andros did not confine his usurpations to the 
eastern province. Denying the West Jersey 
proprietors any right of jurisdiction, as early as 
1676, he had imprisoned Fenwicke, the founder 
of Salem, for claiming the government of his 
share of the province ; and had liberated him 
only upon his promise not to assume any autho- 
rity on the eastern shore of the Delaware. This 
outrage was repeated in 1678, it being alleged 
that Fenwicke had violated his word. 

Other difficulties soon sprung from the same 
source. Pretending that the duke's authority 
extended over the whole of Delaware Bay, An- 
dros levied a tax of five per cent, on all English 
goods imported into the colony. The payment 
of these customs was rigidly enforced. No ex- 
emption was permitted " to the smallest vessel, 
boat, or person." 

Provoked beyond endurance, the proprietors 
earnestly and often importuned the Duke of 
York for redress. At length, rather wearied 



1680.] EEMONSTRANCE OF PROPRIETARIES. 81 

by the reiteration of these complaints than 
moved by their justice, he consented to refer 
the question to disinterested commissioners, who 
finally submitted it to the decision of Sir Wil- 
liam Jones, a leading lawyer of that day. 

On behalf of the colonists, the Quaker pro- 
prietaries prepared an elaborate argument. It 
was worthy the founders of a free state. After 
deducing their title, they say : — 

" An express grant of the powers of govern- 
ment, and that only, induced us to buy the 
moiety of New Jersey ; for the government of 
any place is more inviting than the soil ; and 
what is good land without good laws ? If we 
could not assure people of an easy, free, and safe 
government, liberty of conscience, and an invio- 
lable possession of their civil rights and free- 
doms, a mere wilderness would be no encourage- 
ment; for it were madness to leave a free and im- 
proved country to plant in a wilderness, and give 
another person an absolute title to tax us all." 
Stating the tax imposed by Andros, they con- 
tinue : — 

" For this we make our application to have 
speedy redress, not as a burden only, but as a 
wrong. Tell us by what right are we thus used ? 
The King of England cannot justly take his sub- 
jects' goods without their consent. This needs 
no more to be proved than a principle ; it is a 



82 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1680. 

home-born right, declared to be law by divers 
statutes. 

<'To give up the right of making laws, is to 
change the government, and resign ourselves to 
the will of another. The land belongs to the 
natives ; of the duke -We buy nothing but the 
right of an undisturbed colonizing, with an ex- 
pectation of some increase of the freedoms en- 
joyed in our own country. But what gain has 
it been to us, that now pay an arbitrary custom, 
neither known to England nor to New York, 
and those other plantations? We have not 
lost any part of our liberty by leaving our 
country. 

" The tax is a very surprise to the planters. 
It is paying for the same thing twice over. 
Custom laid upon planting is unprecedented. 
Besides, there is no end of this power ; for, 
since by this precedent we are assessed without 
law, and excluded from our English rights of 
common assent to taxes, what security have we 
for any thing we possess ? We can call nothing 
our own, but are tenants-at-will, not for the soil 
only, but for our personal estates. This sort of 
conduct has destroyed governments, but never 
raised one to true greatness. 

" Lastly, to exact such an unterminated tax 
from English planters, and to continue it after 
so many repeated complaints, will be the greatest 
evidence of a design to introduce, if the crown 



1681.] IMPORT-TAX ILLEGAL. 83 

should ever devolve upon the duke, an unlimited 
government in Old England." 

Such, briefly, but in their own language, was 
the argument of the proprietors. It was suc- 
cessful. Sir William Jones decided that the 
tax was illegal. His decision was sustained. 
The Duke of York acquiesced in it, and, in 
1681, made a new and separate grant of West 
New Jersey to the trustees, relinquishing all 
claim to the territory and the government. 

With this success the peace of West New 
Jersey seemed to be confirmed. Numerous set- 
tlers, mostly Quakers, continued to flock into 
the province. All went on smoothly. 

Finding it inconvenient to leave England, 
Byllinge, who had been elected governor by the 
proprietaries, appointed Samuel Jennings, a man 
of some distinction already in the province, to 
be his deputy. On the 21st of November, 1681, 
Jennings convened the first legislative assembly. 
Having adopted a code of " Fundamental Con- 
stitutions," strictly in accordance with the libe- 
ral spirit of '^the concessions," the assembly 
proceeded to enact six and thirty laws for the 
well-ordering of the province. For defraying 
the expenses of government, they ordered a levy 
of two hundred pounds, to be paid in corn, or 
skins, or money. A heavy penalty was imposed 
upon the sale of ardent spirits to the Indians. 
In all criminal cases — murder, treason, and 



84 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1682. 

theft excepted — it was provided that the person 
aggrieved might pardon the offender either be- 
fore or after condemnation. 

During the following session, held in May, 
1682, Burlington was erected into the capital of 
the province. That town and Salem were es- 
tablished as ports. To provide for that class of 
bound-servants who, to procure the means of 
coming to the country, had indentured them- 
selves to the more opulent colonists, it was en- 
acted that every such person might claim from 
his master, at the expiration of his indenture, a 
set of agricultural implements, necessary articles 
of apparel, and ten bushels of corn. 

When the assembly again met, in 1683, a 
question of considerable importance was brought 
under deliberation. Byllinge, as proprietary, 
claimed, and had already exercised, the power 
of nominating the deputy-governor. From the 
first, his right to do so had been questioned, and 
the subject had excited no little discussion. As 
an intimation of his design to maintain this 
right, Byllinge appears to have resolved upon 
the removal of Jennings. The dissatisfaction 
of the colonists with a claim to any authority 
not springing from themselves, now came rapidly 
to a crisis. Besides, they were pleased with 
Jennings, and wished to retain him. Following 
the advice of Penn, the assembly amended the 



1687.] CLAIMS OF COXE. 85 

constitution according to the prescribed method, 
and then elected Jennings as governor. 

At a subsequent session, Jennings was deputed 
to proceed, with a coadjutor, to England, to ne- 
gotiate upon this subject with Byllinge. Before 
departing he nominated Thomas Olive as his 
deputy. Presently elected governor, Olive re- 
mained in that ofiSce until September, 1685. 
The mission of Jennings was only in part suc- 
cessful. A new and liberal charter was indeed 
obtained, but Byllinge would not renounce his 
claim. He soon afterward commissioned John 
Skene as his deputy. Though the assembly 
agreed to recognise this commission, it was with 
the plain reservation that they thereby lost none 
of '-their just rights and privileges." 

Byllinge dying in 1687, Dr. Daniel Coxe, 
of London, already largely concerned in West 
Jersey, purchased the interest of his heirs in the 
soil and government. Informing the provincial 
council of proprietors of what he had done, Coxe 
presently laid claim to the entire executive con- 
trol of the colony. Liberally confirming the 
" concessions" as a favour, he yet left nothing to 
the people as rights. Probably his energetic re- 
vival of the claim of Byllinge would have created 
more excitement than it did, had not a new and 
unexpected interference from another quarter sus- 
pended, for a time, the exercise of the powers of 
government, either by Coxe or by the people. 



86 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1682. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Quit-rent disputes — East New Jersey purchased by Penn and 
others — Extension of the partnership — Robert Barclay made 
governor — Appoints Thomas Rudyard his deputy — Session 
of the assembly — The province divided into counties — Ad- 
ministration of Rudyard — Gawen Laurie governor — Mixed 
character of population in New Jersey — Scottish emigrants 
— Scot of Pitlochie's book — Lord Campbell appointed deputy 
governor of East New Jersey — James IL violates his obli- 
gations — Difficulties with New York — New Jersey threaten- 
ed — Remonstrance of the proprietaries — Surrender of East 
and West New Jersey to the jurisdiction of the crown — 
Andros commissioned governor — Flight of James IL — Re- 
sumption of the proprietary governments — Hamilton go- 
vernor — Land titles — Hamilton superseded by Basse — Inter- 
provincial disputes — Hamilton re-appointed governor — New 
Jersey becomes a royal province. 

In consequence of the decision of Sir William 
JoneSj East New Jersey again reverted to the 
authority of Governor Carteret. But the quit- 
rent disputes being revived, the possession of the 
province seemed likely to prove more trouble- 
some than lucrative. Tired of their responsi- 
bility, the trustees of Sir George presently offer- 
ed his interest in the province for sale. 

Encouraged by the success of their plantations 
on the Delaware, the Quakers of England re- 
solved to secure the opportunity thus offered of 
widening the field of their enterprise. Accord- 



1682.] PURCHASED BY PENN. 87 

inglj, in the month of February, 1682, William 
Penn, and eleven associates of the Quaker per- 
suasion, became the purchasers of East New 
Jersey, for the sum of three thousand four hun- 
dred pounds. 

Having prepared, for the encouragement of 
settlers, a brief eulogistic account of the politi- 
cal and natural advantages of the province, each 
of the twelve new proprietors chose a partner. 
These were principally Scotchmen, and many 
I were not Quakers. Among them were the Earl 
of Perth and Lord Drummond, members of the 
Scottish privy council. As a majority of the 
five thousand inhabitants already in the colony 
belonged to other religious sects, this choice of 
partners was probably made to allay the jealousy 
with which it was reasonably to be expected 
that a government composed entirely of Quakers 
would be regarded. On the 13th of March, 
1683, the twenty-four obtained from the Duke 
of York a new, special, and final patent. 

Previously, the amiable and ingenious Robert 
Barclay, celebrated by his appellation of "the 
Apologist," himself one of the proprietors, had 
been appointed governor for life. Permitted to 
exercise his authority by deputy, he never visited 
the province. The gentleman he chose as his 
temporary representative, was Thomas Rudyard, 
an attorney of some distinction in London. In 
November 1682, Rudyard arrived in the pro- 



88 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1684. 

vince, '^N'hich he found tenanted by ''a sober, 
professing people, wise in their generation, and 
courteous in their behaviour." 

By the assemby, "which soon after met, a num- 
ber of laws were enacted, slightly modifying the 
character, jurisdiction, and proceedings of the 
courts, and softening, in some degree, the se- 
verity of the earlier criminal and penal codes. 
The concessions of the late proprietaries were 
renewed, and the province divided into four 
counties, Bergen, Essex, Middlesex, and Mon- 
mouth. 

Rudyard's administration seems to have been 
productive of considerable harmony among the 
divided and clashing interests that had hitherto 
distracted the province. But it was of brief 
duration. Having quarrelled with Groome, the 
surveyor-general, Rudyard suspended him from 
office. The English proprietors, however, sided 
with Groome ; and, though fully aw^are of the 
good Rudyard had already effected, they deter- 
mined upon his removal. 

His successor was Gawen Laurie, a Scotch- 
man by birth, a member of the Society of 
Friends, and a merchant of London. Arriving 
in the province early in 1684, Laurie immediate- 
ly bestirred himself to build up the new town 
of Perth Amboy, so named in honour of the 
Earl of Perth. A favourite project of the pro- 
prietaries, this town had been laid out the 



1684.] MIXED POPULATION. 89 

previous year, and already contained a few 
houses. Here it was expected to raise up a 
great commercial emporium, to rival New York ; 
but the destiny prefigured for the young city has 
never been realized. 

New Jersey still bears evidence to the mixed 
character of her early population. To the 
Dutch colonists, New England Puritans, and 
English Quakers already in the province, a large 
accession of Scottish Presbyterians was now to 
be made. 

The efforts of Charles II. to bring back Scot- 
land ,to Episcopacy, had met with no general op- 
position from the Presbyterians. Under the 
name of Cameronians and Covenanters, however, 
a few of their number still persisted in the de- 
termination to practise their faith. Rigorously 
persecuted, in consequence, and hunted like wild 
beasts, the despairing Covenanters occasionally 
rose against their oppressors. But every at- 
tempt to shake off the yoke of intolerance only 
recoiled upon themselves with redoubled violence. 

In 1683, shortly after the final grant of East 
New Jersey to the twenty-four proprietaries, a 
fresh proclamation from the English government 
I proscribed all who had ever communed with the 
rebellious covenanters. The lives of twenty 
thousand persons were thus put at the mercy of 
informers. The insurrection of Monmouth fol- 
lowed. A fearful and bloody revenge was in- 

8* 



90 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1685. 

flicted upon the maddened insurgents. The 
whole Calvinistic population of Scotland was 
beset by proscriptions or penalties. 

Writing at this time to the East Jersey pro- 
prietaries in England, Laurie urged them to 
hasten emio;ration. <' Here wants nothino; but 
people," he said. " Every proprietor's sending 
over ten people will bring all the division that 
hath been here to an end." Governor Barclay 
and others among the proprietaries were natives 
of Scotland. From that country efforts were 
immediately made to draw emigrants to the pro- 
vince. The persecution the people was there 
suffering, it was thought would induce them to 
accept readily an asylum beyond the Atlantic. 
Partial success only followed these efforts. 
With all they were forced to undergo, the Scots 
were not easily persuaded to exile themselves 
from their native land. 

The accession of the Duke of York, as James 
II., to the English throne, in 1685, instead 
of bringing relief to the persecuted Cove- 
nanters, did but aggravate their sufferings. 
Crowded into prisons, numbers of them perished 
from thirst and suffocation. Hundreds of un- 
fortunate fugitives, after being tried by a jury 
of soldiers, were put to death in a body on the 
public ways. Women were bound to stakes set 
up in the sea at low water-mark, and there left 
to be drowned by the swelling waters. 



1685.] SCOTTISH IMMIGRANTS. 91 

Wearied with persecution, the miserable Co- 
venanters were ready to seek peace by expatria- 
tion. It was at this moment that George Scot, 
of Pitlochie, at the instance of the proprie- 
taries, addressed to his countrymen a book 
entitled '« The Model of the Government of the 
Province of East New Jersey in America," in 

i which certain objections to emigration were re- 
futed, and the advantages offered by the province 
set forth in full. "It is judged the interest of 
the English government," he wrote, "altogether 
to suppress the Presbyterian principles ; the 
whole force of the law of this kingdom is levelled 
at the effectual bearing them down. The rigor- 
ous putting these laws in execution hath, in a 
great part, ruined many of those who, notwith- 

. standing thereof, find themselves in conscience 

; obliged to retain these principles. A retreat 
where, by law, a toleration is allowed, doth at 
present offer itself in America, and is nowhere 
else to be found in his majesty's dominions." 
Doing what he had so well advised others, 
the author himself, in August, 1685, embarked 
with his family and two hundred Scottish emi- 
grants, for the shores of East New Jersey. 

The result of his little publication was most 
important and highly beneficial to the colony. 

; Companies of Scotch Presbyterians speedily 
flocked into the province, in such numbers that, 



92 HISTORY or NEW JERSEY. [1686. 

even at the present day, the character they then 
gave it is not entirely destroyed. 

Still further to influence the tide of Scottish 
emigration, the twenty-four proprietors presently 
displaced Laurie, and conferred the ofiice of 
deputy-governor on Lord Neill Campbell. Com- 
promised by some insurrectionary movements in 
Scotland, Campbell willingly accepted, and, in 
1686, came out to the province. His stay, how- 
ever, was brief. In March of the following 
year, he sailed again for England, leaving An- 
drew Hamilton as his substitute. 

Every thing promised well for the future of 
the province. But James, the king of Great 
Britain, was little disposed to fulfil the engage- 
ments he had entered into while Duke of York. 
Influenced by Dongan, the successor of Andros, 
he was preparing to wrest from the Jersey pro- 
prietaries the rights, powers, and privileges he 
had but lately, for the third time, confirmed to 
them. By extending his royal authority over 
New Jersey, his revenues would be largely aug- 
mented, and his cupidity speedily devised a 
scheme for effecting that object. 

To prevent violations of the navigation laws, 
"William Dyer had been appointed by Laurie 
collector of the customs in New Jersey. His 
appointment resulted in evil. Scarcely was his 
authority established, when the inhabitants found 
themselves obliged to enter their vessels and pay 



1688.] SURRENDER OF PROPRIETARY RIGHTS. 93 

duties at New York. Unjust as it was unpa- 
latable, this regulation was either slighted, or 
obeyed with hesitation. Dyer immediately com- 
plained of the opposition he encountered. With 
singular promptitude, the English ministry, in 
April, 1686, answered his complaint by ordering 
the issue of a writ of quo warranto against the 
proprietaries. New Jersey was threatened with 
being made "more dependent." 

Aroused by this sudden stroke, the proprie- 
taries prepared an earnest remonstrance. But it 
was vain to appeal to the justice of James. 
Finding the king immovable, the proprietaries, 
in 1688, formally surrendered their claim to the 
jurisdiction of East Jersey, stipulating only for 
their right of property in the soil. Against 
West Jersey, where Coxe was still claiming ex- 
ecutive authority, a writ of quo zvarranto had 
likewise been issued. In October of the same 
year, the province was yielded up, on conditions 
similar to those stipulated by the eastern pro- 
prietaries. Thus all New Jersey, along with 
New York and New England, was brought under 
the jurisdiction of Andros, whom James had 
commissioned as governor. 

Noting the quiet compliance with which his 
arbitrary assumptions had been received, the 
king was dilatory in making good his acquisition. 
While the necessary grant of the soil to the pro- 
prietaries was yet unexecuted, the Revolution 



94 HISTOEY OF NEW JERSEY. [1692. 

that placed William of Orange on the British 
throne arrested the completion of the whole 
design. 

On the downfall of the House of Stuart, the 
proprietary governments of the two Jerseys were 
quietly resumed. In the eastern province, Ha- 
milton had been confirmed as deputy-governor 
by Andros. Doubting as to what would be his 
proper conduct in the changed condition of af- 
fairs, in August, 1689, he sailed to England, to 
consult personally with the proprietaries, leaving 
the inhabitants to the care of their town and 
county officers. From this period until 1692, 
East Jersey had no other government. Quarrel- 
ling among themselves, the proprietaries found 
it hard to exact obedience from their subjects, 
who rejected two successive governors, appointed 
after the death of Barclay — one in 1690, the 
other in the following year. 

This difficulty, however, was arranged in 
1692, by the selection of Hamilton, the former 
deputy, who was at the same time commission- 
ed as governor of the western province, where 
Coxe had finally abandoned all claim to au- 
thority. 

Eor the following five years New Jersey en- 
joyed a period of comparative repose. The old 
dispute about land-titles, however, was recom- 
menced with considerable bitterness. Carried 
before the provincial courts, the matter was 



1697.] BASSE APPOINTED GOVERNOR. 95 

decided against the claimants under the Indian 
title. But the subsequent annulment of this 
decision by a royal council, again laid the sub- 
ject open to discussion. 

Though the administration of Hamilton had 
proved highly popular, the proprietaries, in 
1697, were reluctantly compelled to revoke his 
commission, in consequence of a late parliament- 
ary enactment, disabling all Scotchmen from 
offices of public trust and profit. 

The successor of Hamilton was Jeremiah 
Basse. Not having the regular approbation of 
the king, the advent of Basse into the province 
was the signal of uproar. A majority of the 
resident proprietaries would not acknowledge his 
authority as legal. Thus disowned, Basse 
sought to strengthen himself by favouring 
the party hitherto adverse to the proprietary 
government. 

In the midst of the contention that now 
arose, the illiberality of the neighbouring 
province of New York created a new cause of 
trouble. Renewing their claim to supremacy 
over New Jersey, the assembly of New York 
attempted to levy a duty on East Jersey ex- 
ports. Though countenanced by the Board 
of Trade, the attempt ended in a failure, but 
not until the dispute had wellnigh ripened 
into a war between the provinces. It was de- 
cided that no customs could be imposed upon 



96 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1699. 

the Jerseys unless by their own consent, or by 
an Act of Parliament. 

Meantime, the popular dissatisfaction with 
Basse continued to grow in strength, until it 
broke out in complete anarchy. Offenders, 
who had tumultuously defied his authority, when 
imprisoned were immediately set at liberty 
by armed mobs, who forced their way into the 
jails, assailing and maltreating the officers 
placed to guard them. At length, finding his 
situation one of vexation and trouble, Basse 
returned to England, some time in the summer 
of 1699. 

Hoping to restore tranquillity, the proprie- 
taries re-appointed Hamilton. But it was 
now too late. Disorderly and seditious meet- 
ings assembled, denying the validity of his 
commission. The judges of his appointing were 
assaulted in open court by bands of armed 
men. Sheriffs were attacked and wounded while 
in the performance of their duties. So great 
became the confusion, that, in succeeding years, 
this period was known as that of " the Bevo- 
lution." 

The cause of these disturbances seems to have 
been the claim of the proprietaries to exclusive 
possession of the soil, under grants from the 
Duke of York, and their consequent demand 
for the payment of quit-rents, and repudiation 
of such titles as had been derived from the In- 



I 



1702.] THE PROVINCES UNITED. 97 

dians. Apparently viewing the proprietaries as 
so many extortioners, the disaffected colonists, 
heedless of what the result might be, earnestly 
prayed the king to deprive those obnoxious per- 
sons of their authority. 

At length, embarrassed by their own numbers 
and conflicting interests, and wearied out with 
an ineffectual struggle to exercise their seig- 
neurial functions, the proprietaries of both the 
Jerseys were induced to entertain a proposal 
from the royal council, to cede their rights of 
jurisdiction to the crown. Besides, the English 
Lords of Trade, claiming New Jersey as a royal 
province, threatened to involve them in an ex- 
pensive suit with the crown, in order to test the 
validity of their pretensions. 

In such a suit, their chance of success would 
have been slight. Thus menaced, both from 
within and from without, they deemed it best to 
surrender. Accordingly, after a lengthy nego- 
tiation, in which they secured to themselves their 
property in the soil, and their quit-rents, so 
odious to the colonists, the proprietaries of New 
Jersey, East and West, formally resigned their 
; " pretended" rights of government, before the 
English privy council, on the 17th of April, 
1702. 

Queen Anne, now on the British throne, im- 
mediately proceeded to unite the two provinces 

9 



98 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1702. 

into one. Their government, along Tvith that 
of New York, was entrusted to the queen's 
kinsman, Edward Hjde, Lord Viscount Corn- 
burj, grandson of the Earl of Clarendon. 



CHAPTER VIIL 



The new constitution for the Jerseys — The legislative power — 
In whom vested — Slave trade ordered to be encouraged — 
The judiciary — Arrival of Lord Cornbury — His demand for 
a permanent salary rejected by the assembly — Cornbury 's 
illegal proceedings — Opposed by Lewis Morris and Samuel 
Jennings — The assembly wait upon Cornbury with a re- 
monstrance — His response — -Retort of the assembly — Con- 
duct of Cornbury censured by the English ministry — His 
removal — Imprisoned by his creditors — Popular administra- 
tion of Lovelace — His death — Ingoldsby deputy-governor — 
War between France and England — Capture of Port 
Royal. 

Embodied in the commission and instructions 
of the crown to Governor Cornbury, the new 
constitution of the Jerseys was promulgated on 
the 10th of November, 1702. 

Resembling in many respects that of the 
other royal provinces in America, the system of 
government thus given to New Jersey was far 
less favourable to popular freedom than were the 
proprietary concessions. In the contests be- 
tween the proprietaries and the people, which 
had partly led to its adoption, the former had 



1702.] PROVISIONS OF CONSTITUTION. 99 

lost nothing but a claim to authority they could 
never have enforced, while the latter were to la- 
ment a serious curtailment of their fori?ier civil 
liberties. 

The legislative power of the province was 
vested in the governor, twelve counsellors, and 
twenty-four representatives. Appointed by the 
crown from a list of names supplied by the go- 
vernor, the counsellors were to be men of "good 
lives and well affected," "of good estates and 
ability," and "not necessitous people or much 
in debt." The representatives, equally divided 
between East and West Jersey, were each re- 
quired to possess a freehold of a thousand acres. 
The laws enacted by the council and assembly 
were subject to an immediate veto from the go- 
vernor, and a veto from the crown at any time. 
The assembly was to meet at the order of the 
governor, who might adjourn, prorogue, or dis- 
solve it, according to his discretion. No persons 
were capable of voting for representatives but 
colonists possessing a hundred acres of land, or 
personal property to the value of fifty pounds. 

Liberty of conscience was granted to all save 
Roman Catholics. Quakers were allowed to 
hold office, and their affirmation was to be ac- 
cepted in lieu of the customary oaths. The 
especial favour of the governor was invoked for 
the Episcopacy, and he was " to take care that 
God Almighty be duly served," and " the blessed 



100 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1704. 

sacrament administered according to the rites 
of the Church of England." Closely following 
this display of royal interest in the cause of 
religion, was an injunction to the governor to en- 
courage the traffic in "merchantable negroes," 
with which the Eoyal African Company were 
to supply the province " at moderate rates." 

No printing press was allowed, nor the print- 
ing of any " book, pamphlet, or other matters 
whatsoever, without a license." In the forma- 
tion of the judiciary, the people took no part; 
the governor, with the consent of his council, 
instituting courts of law, and appointing their 
officers. In suits of law, where the value in dis- 
pute exceeded a hundred pounds, an appeal was 
admitted from the provincial courts to the go- 
vernor and council ; and when it exceeded two 
hundred pounds, ultimate jurisdiction rested in 
the English privy council. 

With the executive, the press, and the judi- 
ciary thus at the pleasure of the crown, it was 
not long before the people of New Jersey became 
sensible of the abridgment of their liberties. 
Conscious of being subjected to wrong, they 
soon began to claim the privileges of their 
earlier and freer condition. 

Lord Cornbury arrived in the province in 
August, 1703, and personally met the general 
assembly at Amboy. During the next session, 
held at Burlmgton, in September, 1704, the 



1704.] PROCEEDINGS OF GOVERNOR. 101 

pleasing opinions previously entertained of Corn- 
bury's good qualities, began to be dispelled by 
the realities of acquaintanceship. Grasping and 
needy, he demanded an annual salary of two 
thousand pounds for twenty years. Accustomed 
to pay but moderate sums for the support of go- 
vernment, the popular branch of the assembly 
would allow no more than thirteen hundred a 
year for three years. Cornbury vainly en- 
deavoured to procure an increase. At length, 
finding the house immovable, he declared it dis- 
solved, and ordered the election of a second, to 
meet in the following November. 

Employing various artifices, Cornbury suc- 
ceeded in obtaining a large proportion, but not a 
majority of the assembly. Complete control 
being thus almost within his grasp, he did not 
hesitate to adopt the advice of his subservient 
council, and refused to admit three of the newly- 
elected members to their seats, on the feigned 
ground that their estates were not as large as 
the royal instructions required. By this unjusti- 
fiable proceeding he secured a majority of one 
favourable to his views. Recklessly prodigal in 
his expenditures, his thirst for money was first 
to be gratified by raising his salary to two 
thousand pounds a year. It was to remain at 
this rate for two years only. A stringent act 
for the establishment of a general system of mi- 
litia, which the former assembly had refused to 

9* 



102 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1707. 

adopt, was now passed, greatly to the discomfort 
of the Quaker colonists, who were subsequently 
subjected to harassing and unnecessary prosecu- 
tions under its provisions. 

During the two following sessions, in 1705 
and 1706, no business of importance was trans- 
acted. The governor, however, found his sup- 
porters dwindling down into an ineffective 
minority. 

It being necessary to call a third assembly, so 
that his salary might be renewed, Cornbury 
ordered an election. All his efforts to regain 
his lost ascendency were of no avail. In the 
new assembly, which convened in April, 1707, 
there was an overwhelming opposition, at the 
head of which were Lewis Morris and Samuel 
Jennings. The former, from the eastern section 
of the province, was of an eccentric but liberal 
mind, and had been twice expelled from the 
council for his determined opposition to the 
measures of Cornbury. The latter, combing 
from West Jersey, was a true-hearted Quaker, 
the natural quickness and fire of whose temper, 
prudence restrained and benevolence softened. 
Both were men of influence, possessing a perfect 
knowledge of the interests of the province, with 
the will, ability, and courage to uphold them. 

Having met, the house, after a consideration 
of the public grievances, adopted a petition to 
the queen, and a remonstrance to the governor. 



1707.] REMONSTRANCE OF ASSEMBLY. 103 

Following the custom of the day, the assembly 
waited on Cornbury with their remonstrance, 
which was probably the production of Morris. 
Jennings, as speaker, read it audibly, and with 
deliberation. Briefly, it was as follows : — 

" To lay before the governor the unhappy 
circumstances of this province, is a task w^e 
undertake, not of choice, but necessity. 

" We think it a great hardship that persons 
accused of any crime should be obliged to pay 
court-fees, notw^ithstanding the jury have found 
no bill against them. The granting of patents 
for the exclusive carriage of goods from Bur- 
lington to Amboy, we think to be a grievance, 
contrary to the statute against monopolies. The 
establishing fees by any other authority than 
the general assembly, we take to be a great 
grievance, directly repugnant to Magna Gharta. 
The governor's putting the records of the eastern 
division of this province into the hands of a 
pretended agent of the proprietors, w^ho has not 
given security for the faithful keeping of them, 
is a crying grievance. 

" These, governor, are some of the grievances 
this province complains of; but there are others 
of a higher nature. 

" The governor has prohibited the proprietors' 
agents from granting warrants for land in the 
western division of this province. This is a 
great encroachment on the proprietors' liberties, 



104 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1707. 

but we are not surprised at it, for a greater led 
the way. That was the governor's refusing to 
swear three members of the last assembly, upon 
the groundless charges of two of the council. 
AVe would not answer the trust reposed in us, 
were we to decline letting the governor know our 
extreme dissatisfaction with so notorious a viola- 
tion of the liberties of the people. 

" Considerable sums of money were raised to 
procure the dissolution of the first assembly, in 
order to obtain such officers as the contributors 
might approve. This house has reason to be- 
lieve that money was given to Lord Cornbury, 
and did induce him to dissolve the then assembly, 
and keep three members out of the next. We 
cannot but be very uneasy when we find by these 
new methods of government, our liberties and 
properties so much shaken, that no man can say 
he-is master of either. Liberty is too valuable 
a thing to be easily parted with. They have 
neither heads, hearts, nor souls, that are not 
forward with their utmost power lawfully to re- 
dress the miseries of their country. 

" We conclude by advising the governor that, 
to engage the afi'ections of the people, no 
artifice is needful, but let them be unmolested 
in "the enjoyment of what belongs to them of 
right." 

Sharp and spirited in its tone, this remon- 
strance lost nothing in its delivery. At the 



1707.] cornburt's reply. 105 

more pointed passages, Cornbury, assuming a 
stern air of authority, would break in with, 
" Stop ! what's that ?" When thus interrupted, 
the undaunted Jennings, affecting deep humility, 
would calmly read over again the offensive pas- 
sages, with greater and more stinging emphasis 
than before. 

The reply of Cornbury was weak and undig- 
nified, though no point of the remonstrance was 
left unnoticed. Denying the truth of some of 
the charges, he sought to justify others. In an 
uncalled-for reflection upon the Quakers, .he 
charged them with disloyalty and faction. 
Singling out Jennings and Morris, he poured 
upon them the severity of his abuse, declaring 
them to be '' men known to have neither good 
principles nor good morals." 

Cornbury's reply drew a second paper from 
the house, reiterating and amplifying their 
former complaints. , In regard to his charges 
aga,inst the Quakers, they ansWBred : — "With 
those persons, considered as Quakers, we have 
nothing to do. They, perhaps, will think them- 
selves obliged to vindicate their meetings from 
the aspersions which your excellency bestows 
upon them, and to show the world how be- 
coming it is for the governor of a province to 
enter the lists of controversy with people who 
thought themselves entitled to his protection 
in the enjoyment of their religious liberties." 



106 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1709. 

Such of them as were members of the house 
begged leave to answer the governor's charge, 
in the words of Nehemiah to Sanballat : — 
"There are no such things done as thou say- 
est, but thou feignest them out of thine own 
heart." 

Refusing to receive this answer to his reply, 
Cornbury prorogued the house. Meeting again 
in May, 1708, they were at length dismissed, 
and then dissolved, the governor finding that 
nothing could be obtained from them, without 
disagreeable concessions upon his part. 

This was the last time Cornbury met the 
assembly of New Jersey. In New York, as 
in New Jersey, his administration had pro- 
duced universal dissatisfaction, while the follies 
and vices he exhibited in private life were 
such as to create the profoundest disgust. 
The Lords of Trade, on complaint of the own- 
ers of a merchant vessel which he had seized 
at New YorL, under some pretence of violations 
of the Acts of Trade, pronounced his conduct 
censurable and illegal. Frequent and earnest 
petitions were poured into the queen for his 
removal, and, at length, though her cousin, 
she deprived him of his commission in the 
year 1709. No sooner was he removed from 
his office than his creditors cast him into jail, 
where he remained a prisoner for debt, in the 
province he had governed, until, succeeding 



1709.] DEATH OF LOVELACE. 107 

to the earldom of Clarendon, the privilege of 
peerage set him at liberty. He then returned 
to Europe, accompanied by the odium which 
his character deserved, as a mixture of arro- 
gance and meanness, bigotry and intolerance, 
rapacity and prodigality. But he had ac- 
complished good, though without design. His 
arbitrary conduct had created and strengthen- 
ed in both provinces a spirit of freedom, bold 
and watchful, and already acquainted with the 
necessity and the methods of resistance. 

The liberal and conciliatory conduct of Corn- 
bury's successor. Lord Lovelace, gave hopes 
of a happy administration. But the pleasant 
prospect was presently overclouded by the 
death of the new and popular governor. In- 
goldsby, the subservient lieutenant of Corn- 
bury, for a time occupied the station thus left 
vacant. 

For several years war had bee^ waging be- 
tween France and England. By ti!ie incursions 
of the French and Indians from Canada, the 
northern provinces had suffered greatly, and, 
in the year 1709, the immediate neighbourhood 
of Boston was threatened by a marauding party 
of the enemy, who attacked and destroyed the 
town of Haverhill, on the Merrimac, massacre- 
ing many of the inhabitants, and dragging others 
into captivity. 

Alarmed at this onslaught, the New England 



108 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1710. 

people begged assistance from the queen. Vetch, 
a Boston merchant, was sent to England to press 
the petition. He returned shortly with the 
promise of a fleet and army, to co-operate with 
colonial troops in a simultaneous attack on Que- 
bec and Montreal. In pursuance of his instruc- 
tions, Ingoldsby called upon New Jersey for as- 
sistance. With spirited alacrity the assembly 
voted to raise a certain number of troops. Ap- 
propriating three thousand pounds to aid the 
expedition, they sanctioned the issue of the first 
paper money in the province. 

The expected army from England not arriving, 
the enterprise was never prosecuted. But Colo- 
nel Nicholson, with the provincial levies, planned 
and executed a successful attack upon Port Royal, 
by which full possession of Nova Scotia was ob- 
tained, on the 5th of October, 1710. 



1710.] HUliTTER APPOINTED GOVERNOR. 109 



CHAPTER IX. 

Arrival of Crovernor Hunter— His speech to the assemBIy — 
His popularity — Invasion of Canada advocated by Nicholson. 
— Organization of the provincial levies — Disastrous failure of 
the expedition — Treaty of Utrecht — Quaker difficulties in 
New Jersey — Opposition against Hunter — His success — 
Provincial demonstrations of regard — Burnet appointed go- 
vernor — His remoA'al to Massachusetts — Montgomery go- 
vernor — Petition for a separate government — Administration 
of Crosby — Of Hamilton — Separation of the Jerseys from 
the government of New York — Morris commissioned go- 
vernor — Rapid decline of his popularity — Maintains the 
royal prerogatives — War declared between England and. 
Prance — Shirley plans an expedition against Louisburg — 
Sharp controversy between Morris and the assembly — 
Death of Morris — Succeeded by Hamilton — Feeble and: 
abortive attempt to invade Canada — Peace of Aix-Ia-Cha- 
pelle. 

Meantime Ingoldsbj had "been removed'.. 
His successor was Robert Hunter, a Scotchman 
by birth. Entering life as the runaway ap- 
prentice of an apothecary, Hunter had enlisted 
as a common soldier in the British army, where 
he gradually rose to military rank. His engag- 
ing person and manners had obtained for him 
the hand of a peeress — his wit and social quali- 
ties the friendship of Addison and Swift. 

Brief, frank, and soldierly, and concluding 
with the excellent maxim, that " all power ex- 

10 



110 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1711. 

cept that of doing good is a burden," his open- 
ing speech to the assembly produced an impres- 
sion eminently favourable. This impression his 
conciliatory disposition, and open, candid bear- 
ing abundantly confirmed, rendering him the 
object of almost aifectionate regard. Supported 
hy the talent and influence of Morris in the 
council, his administration of ten years glided 
on Tvith scarcely a noticeable interruption. 

Flushed with his success in Nova Scotia, 
Nicholson repaired to England, to advocate the 
reduction of Canada. His solicitations obtained 
from government a fleet of fifty-five sail, and 
seven veteran regiments from Marlborough's 
army. This fleet arriving at Boston in June, 
1711, Hunter called the New Jersey assembly. 
Readily answering his requisition, they ordered 
the levy of a regiment, and appropriated twelve 
thousand five hundred dollars, in bills of credit, 
to defraying its expenses. 

At the head of about fifteen hundred pro- 
vincials, from Connecticut, New Jersey, and 
New York, and six hundred Iroquois, Nicholson 
prepared, at Albany, to advance upon Montreal. 
But the combined army and fleet, under General 
Hill and Admiral Walker, met with a disastrous 
failure. While entering the St. Lawrence, on 
their way to Quebec, several vessels were wreck- 
ed, and more than eight hundred men drowned. 
The Quebec expedition being consequently frus- 



1716.] QUAKER DIFFICULTIES. Ill 

trated, Nicholson could not do otherwise than 
abandon his designs against Montreal. 

From this period the operations of both the 
belligerent nations grew less and less momentous, 
until hostilities were brought to a close by the 
Treaty of Utrecht, in 1713. 

A new assembly met in April, 1716, in which 
there was a temporary majority of the old adhe- 
rents of Cornbury, several of whom had been 
the most obnoxious members of his council. 
Daniel Coxe, son of him who has already been 
noticed as a West Jersey proprietor, was chosen 
speaker of the house. 

By the party now apparently in the ascend- 
ant, it was argued that the colonial enactments 
permitting Quakers to affirm in all cases, had 
been annulled by a late parliamentary law, by 
which it was insisted that they should be solemn- 
ly sworn before taking public office, sitting on 
juries, and appearing as witnesses in capital 
trials. Holding to this construction, the clerk 
of the supreme court, contrary to a previous 
ruling of Chief Justice Jameson, refused to ad- 
minister to grand-jurymen any thing but an 
oath. Jameson having fined the clerk for con- 
tempt, was in turn indicted by the court of 
quarter sessions. Hunter sided with the judge. 
The indictment was nullified, and the lawyers 
who promoted it suspended from practice. 

Wearied by a contest with the new house, the 



112 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1719. 

governor prorogued it. About the middle of May, 
lie summoned it to meet him a second time at 
Amboy. Coxe and his adherents, intending to 
keep the governor out of his supplies, denounced 
this call as illegal, and refused to attend, on the 
ground that every other session was to be held 
at Burlington. Stating that he but obeyed the 
orders of his sovereign. Hunter exerted himself 
to get a house together. He succeeded in ob- 
taining one with a mere majority favourable to 
his views. Electing John Kinsey in the place 
of their recusant speaker, they presently ex- 
pelled Coxe, and the other absentees, for " con- 
tempt of authority, and neglect of the service 
of their country." Several of the expelled 
members were re-elected ; but the house would 
not suflfer them to take their seats. 

During the remainder of his administration, 
Hunter got along quite smoothly. And when, 
in 1719, his health failing, he sought a change 
of climate, by applying for the government of 
Jamaica, the two assemblies of New York and 
New Jersey, in legislative addresses, presented 
him the warmest testimonials of their esteem 
and regard. The name of Hunterdon county 
still bears evidence to the popularity which he 
obtained. 

The honest and amiable William Burnet, son 
of the celebrated Bishop, was presently com- 
missioned as governor of the two provinces. 



1731.] APPLY FOR SEPAKATE GOVERNOR. 113 

Enrolling Morris among the number of his in- 
timates, and exercising those popular qualities 
he possessed in an eminent degree, he easily 
overcame the slight opposition of his first New 
Jersey assembly. In return for his ready assent 
to a scheme for increasing the circulating me- 
dium of the province, they granted him an an- 
nual salary of five hundred pounds for five 
years. 

After- a quiet and harmonious administration 
of nearly seven years, Burnet's enemies in New 
York procured his removal, greatly to his own 
and to the assembly's regret. As a compensa- 
tion in some sort, the government of Massachu- 
setts Bay was conferred upon him. Departing 
unwillingly to Boston, he remained ther-e until 
his sudden death, in the fall of 1729. 

The successor of Burnet was John Mont- 
gomery, one of the favourites of George II. 
Of mediocre talents and yielding disposition, 
the brief period of his administration presents 
nothing of marked historical importance. 

After the death of Montgomery, in 1731, the 
assembly petitioned for a separate governor. 
The chief ofiicers of state were either taken 
from New York, or, upon their appointment, 
removed thither; and it was there that the go- 
vernor spent the principal portion of his time. 
In consequence, the executive and judicial 
business of the province was subjected to fre- 

10* 



114 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1T38. 

quent and vexatious delays. The grievance was 
a heavy one ; but the petition for its redress re- 
ceived no present attention. Four years passed 
turbulently away under the rule of William 
Crosby, the successor of Montgomery, before the 
Lords of Trade reported favourably to its 
prayer, in August, 1736. Pending the king's 
decision, John Hamilton, son of the old pro- 
prietor, performed the duties of the executive. 
At length the request for a separate governor 
was granted, and, in 1738, Morris, the favourite 
of the people, received the royal commission. 

Great rejoicings greeted the accession of 
Morris, and he entered upon his duties under 
the most flattering auspices. In replying to his 
address, the assembly expressed the most san- 
guine expectations of his administration. Ap- 
propriating five hundred pounds as a compen- 
sation for his services in procuring the late 
separation, they cheerfully voted him an an- 
nual salary of one thousand pounds for three 
years. 

But this clear prospect was soon clouded. 
Estimating his own abilities highly, ambitious, 
and tenacious of power, Morris,, with the testi- 
ness of advanced age, became entangled in re- 
peated quarrels with his assemblies, and finally 
found himself as odious as he had once been 
popular. Declaring that the desire common 
to all the colonies, of rendering the executive 



1744.] DISPUTES WITH MORRIS. 115 

dependent on the people, «'was nowhere pur- 
sued with more steadiness or less decency than 
in New Jersey," he in turn displayed an ob- 
stinate zeal in upholding the prerogative of the 
crown, entirely unexpected from one who had 
formerly been the popular champion against it. 
He proposed no arbitrary or unjust enactment, 
but caused the defeat of many that would have 
benefitted the province. Worrying the assembly 
with frequent prorogations, adjournments, and 
dissolutions, he rendered himself the most ob- 
noxious of the royal governors, Cornbury only 
excepted. 

In 1744, the peace between England and 
France was again ruptured. The contest that 
ensued soon extended to the colonies. Having 
planned the capture of Louisburg, Shirley, of 
Massachusetts, invited the other provinces to 
co-operate. The assembly of New Jersey, then 
engaged in a sharp controversy with Morris, had 
refused to organize the militia, or to vote sup- 
plies, unless the governor would first consent to 
sanction some of their cherished measures. The 
chief of these were an act ordering a new issue of 
paper money ; an act to compel sherifis to give 
security for the faithful discharge of their duties ; 
and a bill to prevent actions for small sums in 
the supreme court. Though loudly called for 
by the people, these laws were calculated to 
lessen the power and influence of the executive. 



116 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1746. 

Morris would not yield, while the assembly 
prepared to starve him into acquiescence, by 
refusing to grant his salary. They furnished, 
however, two thousand pounds toward the Louis- 
burg expedition, which was abundantly success- 
ful ; but they would not order a levy. 

Morris stubbornly held out against the as- 
sembly, and the vexatious dispute was main- 
tained with much bitterness, until cut short 
by the death of the governor, on the 21st of 
May, 1746. His name, borne by one of the 
counties of the state, still testifies to the early 
popularity of one whose widow applied vainly to 
the assembly for the arrears due on her hus- 
band's salary. 

After the death of Morris, the government 
devolved upon Hamilton, as president of the 
council. 

Encouraged by the reduction of Louisburg, 
the colonies were led to entertain their old pro- 
ject of conquering Canada. For this purpose, 
the New Jersey assembly readily sanctioned 
a levy of five hundred troops. In less than 
two months, over six hundred zealous colonists 
were ready for the field. Formed into five 
companies, under the command of Colonel Peter 
Schuyler, they presently marched to the ren- 
dezvous at Albany. But the energy of the 
provinces was weakly seconded by the home go- 
vernment. Neither general, troops, nor orders, 



1747.] BELCHER APPOINTED GOVERNOR. 117 

came from England, and the enterprise was 
finally abandoned. 

By both parties hostilities were feebly main- 
tained, until brought to a close by the peace of 
Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748. To the intense morti- 
fication of the colonists. Cape Breton, and 
Louisburg its capital, so dearly bought by pro- 
vincial blood and treasure, were restored to the 
French almost without an equivalent. 



CHAPTER X. 



Belcher governor — Revival of quit-rent disputes — A commis- 
sion of inquiry ordered by the crown — Claims of France to 
the Ohio valley — Mission of George Washington to Fort 
Le Boeuf — The works commenced at the forks of the Ohio 
seized by the French — Washington ordered to protect the 
Virginia frontier — Skirmish and death of Jumonville — 
Formal declaration of war — A plan of colonial confedera- 
tion proposed — Rejected by the provinces and the Board of 
Trade — Campaign of 1755 — Defeat of Braddock — Victory 
of Lake George — Alarm of the colonies — Indian incursions 
— Campaign of 1756 — Loudoun appointed commander-in- 
chief — Descent of Montcalm on the forts at Oswego — 
Treaty with the Delawares. 

Shortly after the death of Hamilton, in 
1747, Jonathan Belcher, previously of Massa- 
chusetts, received the royal appointment as go- 
vernor of New Jersey. Adopting a conciliatory 
policy with regard to the paper-currency bill. 



118 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1748. 

and other popular measures, he was enabled to 
maintain a tolerably fair understanding with 
the assembly, though at the expense of a rebuke 
from the Lords of Trade. 

But the ten years of his administration was 
not undisturbed. In the time of Morris, the 
old quit-rent dispute, one of the most vexatious 
that could agitate the province, had been revived 
with unusual asperity. 

Large tracts of the proprietary lands had 
fallen into the possession of influential persons, 
fully disposed to urge their titles against those 
contended for by the Elizabethtown claimants, 
under the sanction of Indian conveyances. By 
the former, writs of ejectment were issued, and 
suits for the recovery of quit-rents commenced 
against their opponents. The latter resisted 
violently, and, in 1748, associating themselves 
for mutual protection, they broke open the jail 
of Essex county, and liberated a person im- 
prisoned at the suit of the proprietors. Long 
after the death of Morris, their combination en- 
abled them to defy the civil authorities, and the 
sympathies of the popular branch of the as- 
sembly prevented a military interference. 

When Belcher took charge of the province, 
this trouble was at its height. An assembly 
being summoned, efforts were made to heal the 
disorders. The task was one of difficulty. 
Applying to the king, the governor, and the 



1751.] QUIT-RENT DIFFICULTY. 119 

council, each party sought to criminate the 
other. The proprietors petitioned that it should 
be made felony for twelve or more persons to 
remain assembled, after having been commanded 
to disperse by the civil authorities. Eut the 
popular branch of the assembly refused to le- 
gislate against the resistants. A subsequent 
act, promising pardon and oblivion of offences 
upon certain conditions, met with no hearty re- 
sponse from them, while the proprietors com- 
plained that it was calculated rather to encourage 
than to intimidate the rioters. 

In 1751 a commission of inquiry was order- 
ed from England. In the mean time the Eliza- 
bethtown claimants clung to their possessions, 
thus obtaining what they deemed equal to a vic- 
tory. But for many years the province was dis- 
turbed by dissensions springing from this fruit- 
ful source. During the whole period of Belcher's 
administration, it was seldom that the house and 
the council could be brought to agree, even upon 
matters disconnected with it ; while, up to the 
time of the Revolution, a chancery suit, now 
begun by the proprietors against the Elizabeth- 
town claimants, remained pending without any 
decision. 

Hostilities between France and England soon 
involved again the colonies. At the best but a 
hollow truce, the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was 
early disregarded. Only two years after its 



120 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1754. 

conclusion, both nations, taking advantage of 
the undetermined condition of their territorial 
limits, began to adopt active and systematic 
measures for increasing their possessions as much 
as possible. 

To uphold their claims to the country on the 
Ohio, the French, far more energetic than their 
English rivals, erected forts Le Boeuf and 
Venango, the one on French Creek, and the 
other on the main stream of the Alleghany. 
Claiming this territory for Great Britain, Din- 
widdle of Virginia despatched George Wash- 
ington, then a young militia officer and a sur- 
veyor by profession, to inquire into the designs 
of the French. Washington was treated with 
studied courtesy by the commandant at Le 
Boeuf, but obtained no official satisfaction with 
regard to the object of his mission. Heated 
with wine, the French officers, however, made 
no secret of the intention of France to secure 
possession of the entire region on the Ohio and 
the lakes. 

Authorized to repel such aggression by force, 
Dinwiddle presently sent a captain's command 
to build a fort at the confluence of the Alle- 
ghany and Monongahela. Some time in April, 
1754, this party was driven off by the French, 
who took possession of the unfinished works, 
completed them, and named the fortification 
Duquesne. 



1754.] CONFEDERATION REJECTED. 121 

Washington was immediately despatched to 
protect the frontier thus invaded. Temporarily 
successful over the enemy under Jumonville, he 
was subsequently compelled to surrender, after 
a brief but spirited resistance, and on favour- 
able conditions, to a greatly superior force of 
French and Indians. 

These occurrences gave the signal for hostili- 
ties, though war was not formally proclaimed 
until 1756. Under the circumstances, a union 
of the colonies was deemed desirable. A plan 
for such a union, drawn up by Franklin, was 
adopted by a convention of committees from 
several colonial assemblies, which met at Albany, 
in June, 1754. By this plan, a grand council 
of representatives from the colonial assemblies, 
presided over by a governor-general appointed 
by the crown, were to enact general laws, and 
provide for the common defence of the colonies. 
Containing germs of the present federal com- 
pact, it can scarcely be claimed as original with 
Franklin. So early as 1722, Coxe, the expelled 
speaker of the New Jersey house, had proposed 
a plan resembling it closely. 

Submitted to the Lords of Trade, and to the 
provincial assemblies, Franklin's scheme was re- 
jected by the former, as being too favourable to 
colonial independence, and by the latter as 
giving undue power to the crown. The New 

Jersey assembly, which had declined sending 

11 



122 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1755. 

commissioners to the convention, voted against 
the proposition, because "it might be preju- 
dicial to the prerogative, and to the liberties of 
the people." 

Probably the most powerful motive for the re- 
jection of this plan, by the Board of Trade, 
originated in their desire to secure the adoption 
of one of their own. In the scheme they had 
already suggested, taxation of the provinces by 
parliamentary enactment was advocated. No- 
thing could have been more hateful to the colo- 
nists. The ministerial project was dropped 
without the formality of a distinct rejection. 

Finding war inevitable, the English govern- 
ment appointed General Braddock commander- 
in-chief of the army in North America. Early 
in 1755 he was despatched with two regiments 
to the colonies. Anticipating his arrival, the 
several provincial assemblies were called upon 
for troops. The summons was willingly respond- 
ed to. New Jersey ordered the levy of a regi- 
ment five hundred strong, the command of which 
was given to the veteran Schuyler. Seventy 
thousand pounds of new paper were issued to 
pay the expenses of these troops. 

Arriving early in March, Braddock met a 
council of colonial governors at Alexandria, on 
the Potomac, to concert measures for a cam- 
paign. Separate but simultaneous expeditions 



1755.] TROOPS SENT TO ALBANY. 123 

were planned against Niagara, Crown Point, and 
Fort Duquesne. / 

Apprehending most an invasion through New 
York from Canada, the two northern expeditions 
were especially favoured by New Jersey. Having 
been provided with arms from Virginia, at the 
expense of the assembly, Schuyler's regiment 
proceeded to the rendezvous at Albany, while 
Braddock was pursuing his slow and toilsome 
march to the forks of the Ohio. At Albany, 
the regiment appears to have been divided ; part 
being joined to the Crown Point expedition, 
under Colonel Johnson, of New York, while 
Schuyler, with the remainder, accompanied 
Shirley, the governor of Massachusetts, in his 
march to attack Niagara. 

Leading the advance against Crown Point, 
Lyman, of Connecticut, by the 8th of August, 
had completed Fort Edward, at the portage be- 
tween the Hudson and Lake George. Johnson 
presently came up, and marched the main army 
to the southern shore of the lake, where a strong 
camp was formed. 

Meanwhile the Baron Dieskau, with four 
thousand French troops, had arrived in Canada. 
Hearing that Johnson contemplated an attack on 
Crown Point, Dieskau sought to divert his at- 
tention, by advancing upon Fort Edward, at the 
head of a mixed force of regulars, Canadians, 
and savages. 



124 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1755. 

Tidings of the French general's movement 
having reached the English camp, Johnson sent 
forward a detachment of one thousand provin- 
cials to relieve the fort. Dieskau, however, had 
changed his mind, and was advancing upon 
Johnson himself. Ignorant of this, the detach- 
ment marched without caution, unapprehensive 
of meeting the enemy. Suddenly, when about 
three miles from the camp, they encountered the 
whole force of the French. A fierce and san- 
guinary conflict ensued. Fighting gallantly 
against superior numbers, the provincials fell 
back slowly toward the camp, with the loss of 
their commander. Colonel Williams. 

Pressing the fugitives, Dieskau hoped to pene- 
trate the camp, in the midst of the confusion it 
was expected that their appearance w^ould create. 
But Johnson was prepared. A few pieces of 
cannon, hastily brought from the lake shore, 
opened upon the French as they came in sight. 
The Indians and Canadians took to the woods, 
leaving Dieskau, with his regulars alone, to break 
the English lines. Struggling obstinately for 
victory, the gallant regulars, during five hours, 
rushed again and again, only to be repulsed, 
upon the slight breastwork of the Americans. 
At length they faltered. Springing from be- 
hind their entrenchments, the provincials drove 
them back in disorder. Thrice wounded, the 
brave but unfortunate Dieskau, was unable to 



1755.] DEFEAT OF BRADDOCK. 125 

follow his vanquished army. Seated upon the 
stump of a tree, with his military trappings by 
his side, he was found by a renegade Frenchman, 
fired at, and wounded fatally. 

The battle of Lake George was celebrated as 
a triumph; but Johnson neglected, or was un- 
able to improve his success. Crown Point was 
left untried, and the French were permitted to 
fortify themselves at Ticonderoga. During the 
fall, however, the provincials were employed in 
building Fort William Henry. Garrisoning the 
new fortress with six hundred men, Johnson dis- 
missed the remainder to their homes. 

Meanwhile, Shirley had performed a slow and 
toilsome march to Oswego, reaching that place 
during the month of August. In the midst of 
extensive preparations for embarking to the 
siege of Niagara, most discouraging news arrived 
from Braddock, with whom the expedition was 
to co-operate. That brave, but vain-glorious 
and self-opinionated commander, disregarding 
the wholesome advice of his provincial ofiicers, 
had met disastrous defeat and death while on 
his way to besiege Fort Duquesne. Dishearten- 
ed by this intelligence, and delayed by heavy 
rains, Shirley finally abandoned his design 
against Niagara. In the mean time, two sub- 
stantial forts had been built upon the right and 
left banks of the Oswego River, a short distance 

from the lake. Leaving in these strong gar- 

11* 



126 HISTORY or NEW JERSEY. [1755. 

risons, including tlie New Jersey troops under 
Schuyler, Shirley returned to Albany. 

Braddock's defeat filled the colonies with 
alarm. The whole western frontier was left ex- 
posed to the horrors of savage warfare. Bel- 
cher immediately summoned an assembly, but 
nearly six months elapsed before they awoke to 
the full necessity of answering the call. Mean- 
while the hitherto faithful Delawares were 
swept away in the general Indian defection. 
Inflicting the most terrible cruelties, numerous 
bands of savages roamed without molestation 
along the western lines of Virginia and Penn- 
sylvania, and finally crossed the Delaware into 
New Jersey. 

In this emergency, the zeal of the inhabitants 
of Sussex county w^as displayed. To the num- 
ber of four hundred, they marched promptly to 
Easton, under the command of Colonel John 
Anderson. Their presence was of great service 
in overawing the Indian bands. Aged and in- 
firm. Belcher was yet active in calling out the 
resources of the province. When the assembly 
met in December, Schuyler and his half regi- 
ment were recalled from Oswego. Stationed on 
the frontier, they remained there until the 
opening of spring, when they again marched to 
the north, their place being supplied by vo- 
lunteers. 

During the winter, however, outlying parties 



1756.] CAMPAIGN OF 1756. 127 

of the savages hung around the settlements, 
rendering it necessary to erect numerous forts 
and blockhouses, among the mountains and along 
the Delaware. But the actual hurt they wrought 
was far less than the intense apprehension their 
vicinity excited. 

Neglected success, failure, and deplorable de- 
feat, had distinguished the campaign of 1755. 
That of 1756 was altogether disastrous. Ele- 
vated by the death of Braddock to the chief 
command, Shirley, on the opening of spring, 
began extensive preparations for important ex- 
peditions to the north. His exertions had as- 
sembled a considerable force at Albanv, when 
he was notified to return to England. 

A procrastinater by habit. Lord Loudoun, the 
successor of Shirley, did not arrive until the 
summer was well-nigh spent. While General 
Webb, with a regiment of regulars, was to re- 
inforce Oswego, Loudoun determined to proceed 
with the main army against Crown Point and 
Ticonderoga. Great expense had been incurred 
by the northern colonies, and it was still hoped 
that the campaign would result in a success pro- 
portioned to the outlay. But this expectation 
was doomed to disappointment. 

Having succeeded Dieskau as commander of 
the French forces in Canada, the Marquis of 
Montcalm, at the head of five thousand regulars, 
militia, and Indians, suddenly appeared before 



128 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1756. 

the forts at Oswego, on the evening of the 
twelfth of August. Against Fort Ontario, 
crowning an eminence opposite to, and com- 
manding the main works, Montcalm opened a 
heavy cannonade early in the following morn- 
ing. Gallantly sustaining this during the day, 
the besieged, finding their ammunition expended, 
at nightfall spiked their cannon and silently 
crossed to Oswego. The deserted post was im- 
mediately occupied by Montcalm. On the four- 
teenth, Mercer the English commander was 
slain. After a brief bombardment, the dis- 
heartened garrison surrendered as prisoners of 
war. Few perished on either side, but the 
French w^ere overjoyed with the amount of their 
booty. Six ships of w^ar, three hundred boats, 
immense stores of ammunition and provisions, one 
hundred and twenty cannon and sixteen hundred 
troops fell thus easily into their hands. To 
allay the jealousy of his savage allies, the poli- 
tic Montcalm destroyed both forts and left Os- 
wego a solitude. 

Tardily advancing, Webb met the disastrous 
tidings at the Oneida portage. He fell back 
with precipitation to Albany. Disconcerted by 
these events, Loudoun recalled the troops march- 
ing against Ticonderoga, dismissed the provin- 
cials, and abandoned all offensive operations for 
the campaign. 

Among the prisoners at Oswego, were Schuy- 



1756.] TREATY WITH THE DELAWARES. 129 

ler and his half regiment. Carried to Canada, 
a new enlistment presently supplied their loss. 
Schuyler, however, was soon released on parole, 
with the promise that he would return if no 
suitable exchange should be offered for him. 
Welcomed home with illuminations and other 
tokens of joy, the veteran colonel remained 
there until the spring of 1758. It was then 
that the French commandant in Canada «' sent 
to demand the brave old Peter Schuyler of New 
Jersey, as no person had been exchanged for 
him." Thrusting aside the friends who en- 
treated him to stay, the gallant old officer, true 
to his plighted word, went back again into 
captivity. 

Meanwhile, Sir William Johnson had succeed- 
ed in procuring at Easton a treaty of peace 
with the Delawares. A partial relief was thus 
afforded to the western frontiers. But during 
the spring and summer of 1757, a continual 
alarm was kept up by scalping parties of savages 
from Canada and the Ohio. Committing depre- 
dations within thirty miles of Philadelphia, these 
bands did not neglect to visit the north-western 
settlements of New Jersey, for the protection 
of which it was found necessary to maintain a 
company of Rangers. 



130 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1756. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Increase of British power in the colonies — Subordination of 
colonial officers — Indignation in Pennsylvania and New 
Jersey — Campaign of 1757 — Co-operation of New Jersey — 
Expedition against Louisburg — Inactivity of Loudoun at 
Halifax — Energetic movements of Montcalm — Siege of 
Fort William Henry — Surrender of Munro — Attempted 
massacre of the prisoners — Heroic conduct of Montcalm — 
Alarm of General Webb — Death of Governor Belcher — 
Campaign of 1758 — Masterly arrangements of Pitt — Hearty 
response of the colonies — Capture of Louisburg — Repulse 
of Abercrombie before Ticonderoga — Fort Frontenac taken 
by Bradstreet — Evacuation of Fort Duquesne — Indian 
council at the forks of the Delaware — Campaign of 1759 — 
Invasion of Canada projected — Ticonderoga and Crown 
Point abandoned by the French — Surrender of Fort Niagara 
— Capture of Quebec — Peace of Fontainebleau — Change 
of governors in New Jersey — Indian outrages. 

During the year 1756 Parliament had effect- 
ed a signal extension of its authority over the 
colonies. Military rule, enforced with imperious 
arrogance by Loudoun, had been established, in- 
dependent of the provincial governments. By 
its power, troops had been quartered upon the 
inhabitants against their indignant and earnest 
remonstrances, and the colonial officers had been 
degraded to a position inferior to that of those 
commissioned by the crown. The people of 
Pennsylvania and New Jersey had been irritated 



1757.] INACTIVITY OF LOUDOUN. 131 

' by the authority given to recruiting officers, to 
enlist their indentured servants. Militia com- 
panies, assembled for mutual defence against a 
barbarous foe, had been arbitrarily dismissed; 
while the intercession of the Quakers with the 
Delawares, to obtain security for their hearths 
and cradles in the more peaceful way of inter- 
changing faith and presents, was condemned 
as a most daring violation of the royal pre- 
rogative. 

The indignation excited by these measures 
was intensely aggravated by Loudoun's attribut- 
ing the disastrous result of the past year's ope- 
rations, properly due to his own incapacity, to 
the colonial troops. Still, in preparing for 
the campaign of 1757, he was well seconded by 
the colonial assemblies, though not to the ex- 
tent of his demands. New Jersey would not 
authorize a conscription to raise her regiment 
of five hundred to a thousand. 

The capture of Louisburg was to be the prin- 
cipal object of the campaign. Leaving the 
newly-raised levies from New England, New 
York, and New Jersey, to garrison Forts Ed- 
ward and William Henry, Loudoun sailed with 
six thousand regulars for Halifax. Arriving 
there, he found himself at the head of an excel- 
lent army ten thousand strong, supported by a 
large and eifective fleet. August came, and the 
indecisive chief was still at Halifax, amusing 



132 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [175T. 

himself with planting cabbages. At length the 
troops were embarked ; but news arrived that 
the harbour of Louisburg was defended by 
seventeen ships of the line. Loudoun then sailed 
for New York. His great preparations had 
ended in nothing. 

Meantime, his energetic and wily opponent, 
Montcalm, was not idle. Availing himself of 
Loudoun's unskilfulness in withdrawing so large 
a portion of the British force from the frontiers 
of New York, he ascended Lake George with 
eight thousand men, and laid siege to Fort Wil- 
liam Henry. In the fort itself, less than five 
hundred British regulars were posted under 
Lieutenant-Colonel Munro. On an eminence to 
the south-east, the provincials, including the un- 
fortunate New Jersey regiment, were entrenched 
to the number of seventeen hundred men. On 
the morning of the fourth of August, the artil- 
lery of the French opened. For six days the 
attack was maintained with daring ardour. But 
not until the expiration of that period would the 
gallant Munro capitulate, and then only because 
half his guns were burst and his ammunition 
wellnigh expended. The conditions of surren- 
der were, that the English should be suffered to 
depart with the honours of war, on a pledge not 
to serve against the French for eighteen months. 
An escort sufficient to protect them from Mont- 



1757.] ALARM OF WEBB. 133 

calm's barbarian allies was to attend their march 
to Fort Edward, some twelve miles distant. 

Montcalm made every effort to fulfil his pledges. 
But dissatisfied with his clemency, and rendered 
furious by strong drink, the savages fell upon 
the English as they filed out of their entrench- 
ments. Without arms, they could make no de- 
fence. Twenty, or thereabouts, were tomahawk- 
ed on the spot. The rest fled ; some to the 
wilderness, others to the French camp. Mont- 
calm and his officers exerted themselves daringly 
to stay the slaughter. "Kill me!" cried the 
mortified general ; " Kill me, but spare the Eng- 
lish, who are under my protection." In the 
flight to Fort Edward, a few more were slain or 
made prisoners by the savages. Six hundred 
reached there in a body ; many stragglers fol- 
lowed ; and four hundred afterward came in un- 
der a strong escort of French troops. 

All this time "VYebb was at Fort Edward, with 
six thousand men under his command, and a nu- 
merous militia within call. Yet he remained in- 
active, not daring to sally from his stronghold. 
Roused at length by his personal fears, he sum- 
moned assistance. His call was answered 
promptly. From New Jersey alone a thousand 
militia hastened toward his camp, while three 
thousand more were ready to march if it should 
be necessary. But it was now too late. Satis- 
fied with the triumph he had achieved, Mont- 

12 



134 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1758. 

calm retreated to Canada. Thus disastrously 
for the English terminated the campaign of 
1757. 

Meanwhile Governor Belcher had died, worn 
out with years, and not unregretted. The ex- 
ecutive duties now devolved for a brief period 
upon the president of the council, the aged John 
Readino;. 

With the opening of the campaign of 1758 a 
brighter prospect dawned upon the dejected and 
mortified colonists. William Pitt, the elder, was 
now at the head of the British cabinet. Unit- 
ing the same energy and steadfastness to well- 
formed aims, that had elevated him from a 
cornetcy in the dragoons to his present lofty 
station, he determined upon overthrowing the 
Gallic dominion in North America. In his pre- 
parations he exhibited a full and just knowledge 
of the temper and disposition of the colonists. 
The obnoxious Loudoun was recalled. The galled 
sense of honour of the provincial officers was 
soothed by allowing all, from the rank of colonel 
downward, an equal command with the British. 
A powerful fleet and army were despatched to 
America. To co-operate with these forces, the 
several colonies were invited to raise such a 
number of levies as their circumstances would 
permit. Arms, ammunition, tents, and provi- 
sions were to be furnished by the crown. The 
provinces were to pay and clothe their levies, 



1758.] LIBERAL SUPPORT OF THE WAR. 135 

but for these expenses even, Pitt promised to 
endeavour to procure a parliamentary reim- 
bursement. 

The effect was magical. Instead of reluctantly 
raising five hundred levies, the New JerSey as- 
sembly, offering a bounty of twelve pounds to 
each recruit, called for a thousand, and voted 
fifty thousand pounds for their support. Bar- 
racks, each capable of accommodating three 
hundred men, were ordered to be built at Bur- 
lington, Trenton, New Brunswick, Amboy, and 
Elizabethtown. Nor was a less energetic spirit 
exhibited by the other colonies. Nearly thirty 
thousand provincials took up arms. With these 
and the regulars, Abercrombie, the new com- 
mander-in-chief, found himself at the head of 
fifty thousand effective troops. 

Three several expeditions were set in motion; 
Abercrombie against Ticonderoga and Crown 
Point; Forbes against Duquesne ; and Amherst 
and Wolfe, in conjunction with Boscawen's fleet, 
against Louisburg. 

Amherst was the first to move. Appearing 
before Louisburg on the 6th of June, he imme- 
diately began a vigorous siege. After an ob- 
stinate defence of seven weeks, in which they 
suffered severe loss, the garrison, three thousand 
strong, surrendered as prisoners of war. The 
whole country around the Gulf of St. Lawrence 
thus fell into the power of the English. 



136 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1758. 

Meanwhile, Abercrombie had assembled on 
the margin of Lake George an army of sixteen 
thousand men, seven thousand being British 
regulars, and the remainder provincials from 
New England, New York, and New Jersey. 
At early dawn on July the fifth, they embarked 
on more than a thousand boats, and to the stir- 
ring tones of martial music, with bright banners 
and gay uniforms gleaming in the morning sun, 
moved swiftly down the lake to attack Ticonde- 
roga. Landing near the outlet of the lake, at 
nine o'clock the next day, they began their 
march, over a rough road, and led by bewildered 
guides. Some confusion took place in the van, 
during which a scouting party of the French 
was encountered. The loss of the English was 
trifling in point of numbers, but among the 
slain was young Lord Howe, the moving spirit 
of the army. 

Passing the night in the wilderness, Aber- 
crombie returned to the landing-place, and took 
a new and shorter route, which the energy of 
Bradstreet, an active provincial officer, had 
opened to within a mile and a half of the French 
works. Too impatient to wait for his artillery, 
he rashly ordered an assault on the front of the 
enemy's line. 

Ticonderoga was held by about thirty-four 
hundred men, under the command of the watch- 
ful and sagacious Montcalm. Early informed 



1758.] ATTACK ON TICONDEROGA. 137 

of the approach of the English, he had with 
wonderful activity wellnigh completed his de- 
fences before they made their appearance. The 
most formidable portion of his works was that 
which Abercrombie had determined to storm. It 
consisted of a breast-work nine feet high, built of 
huge logs, and guarded in front by felled trees, 
with their branches sharpened, and pointing 
outward like lances. Behind this Montcalm 
posted his troops, with orders not to fire a gun 
until the storming party should become entangled 
among the stumps and rubbish of all sorts, by 
which their advance was impeded. 

Having formed in three columns, the British 
regulars rushed gallantly to the assault. Com- 
manded to reserve their fire until the breast- 
work should be carried, they were struggling 
over the encumbered ground in front, when a 
deadly and incessant discharge broke from the 
French lines. Though thrown at once into con- 
fusion, they fought bravely and long. For four 
hours they endeavoured with heroic obstinacy, 
but in vain, to execute the ill-timed and injudi- 
cious orders of their chief. Finally, having lost 
over two thousand in killed and wounded, they 
abandoned the hopeless contest. On the next 
morning Abercrombie conducted a hasty and 
confused retreat to Fort William Henry. 

To balance this ill fortune, in part at least, 
the energetic Bradstreet presently projected the 

12* 



138 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1758. 

surprise of Frontenac, a fortress on the Cana- 
dian shore of Lake Ontario. His success was 
signal. An immense amount of valuable stores, 
nine armed vessels, and the command of the 
lake thus fell into the hands of the English. 

The destruction of Frontenac contributed 
largely to the success of the western expedition 
under Forbes. Deprived by that event of their 
wonted supplies, the garrison at Fort Duquesne, 
upon the approach of the English, set fire to 
their works and fled precipitately down the Ohio. 
The charred ruins were yet smoking when Wash- 
ington with the vanguard of the army took pos- 
session of the deserted post. 

Meanwhile, the triumphs of the campaign had 
been enhanced by the restoration of peace along 
the western borders. After several preliminary 
conferences, Bernard, now governor of the pro- 
vince, aided by the good ofiSces of Teedyscung, 
one of their bravest and most eloquent chiefs, 
prevailed upon the New Jersey tribes to attend 
«' the grand council-fire, kindled at the forks of 
the Delaware." Here were met the representa- 
tives of the Iroquois and their subject tribes, to 
treat with the commissioners of Pennsylvania 
and New Jersey. "We now take the hatchet 
out of your hands," said the red man solemnly 
to the commissioners. " It was a French hatch- 
et. We take it out of your hands and bury it 
in the ground, where it shall rest for ever." 



1T59.] FURTHER LEVY OF TROOPS. 139 

Many strings of wampum confirmed the truth of 
their words, and the broken chaiij of friendship 
was re-united with strong links. 

At a subsequent special conference, the New 
Jersey tribes sold all their remaining lands to 
the province. The Delawares presently emi- 
grated to the country west of the Alleghanies, 
while the Minnisinks, numbering about one hun- 
dred and fifty souls, authorized the purchase of 
three thousand acres, on the eastern shore of 
Burlington county, where they were removed at 
the expense of the colony. Here, in possession 
of fine hunting grounds and convenient fisheries, 
they remained quietly for many years, under the 
protection of special commissioners. 

For the campaign of 1759, Pitt planned the 
conquest of Canada ; the young and gallant 
Wolfe being directed to advance against Que- 
bec, Amherst to take Ticonderoga and Crown 
Point, and then besiege Montreal ; and a third 
army, composed principally of provincials under 
Prideaux, to capture Niagara. Of this plan the 
colonial assemblies were informed under an oath 
of secrecy. Pitt gained their willing co-opera- 
tion by a prompt parliamentary reimbursal of 
the last year's expenses. By spring twenty 
thousand provincials were in the field. With 
less than fifteen thousand fighting men. New 
Jersey raised a thousand troops in addition to 
the thousand she had already lost. Her expen- 



140 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1759. 

ditures for their support amounted to almost five 
dollars for every soul in the province. 

Pitt's plan for the campaign was but partially 
accomplished. Amherst, indeed, obtained easy 
possession of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, but 
he moved with such dilatory caution that winter 
put an effectual stop to his operations, while he 
was yet lingering at the head of Lake Cham- 
plain. Prideaux landed successfully before Ni- 
agara, but was soon afterward killed by the 
bursting of a cohorn. Sir William Johnson 
succeeded to the chief command. Twelve hun- 
dred French regulars, hastening to relieve the 
beleaguered fortress, were signally routed ; and 
finally, after sustaining a siege of nearly three 
weeks, the garrison, six hundred strong, sur- 
rendered *as prisoners of war. Destitute of 
shipping and short of provisions, Johnson was 
likewise unable to effect the proposed junction 
with Wolfe on the St. Lawrence. The latter 
general, however, one of the best and bravest in 
the British army, with the loss of his life, gained 
an imperishable renown by winning the most 
important battle that had ever been fought in 
the New World. Sailing from Louisburg with 
eight thousand troops, he landed a short distance 
below Quebec, on the twenty-fifth of June. 
Nearly three months were spent in unavailing 
attempts to baffle the watchfulness of the alert 
Montcalm. But at length, having secretly 



1763.] WILLIAM FRANKLIN GOVERNOR. 141 

scaled the Heights of Abraham, Wolfe drew up 
five thousand of his troops in battle array on the 
plain before Quebec. Montcalm hastened to meet 
him, and a sanguinary battle ensued. Wound- 
ed twice, Wolfe lived to learn that the French 
had fled, but no longer. His brave opponent, 
Montcalm, also received a death-wound in the 
fight, but did not survive to witness the capitu- 
lation of the city, an event which took place five 
days after the battle. 

With Quebec fell the power of France in 
America. In the following year Montreal was 
surrendered to the united armies under Am- 
herst ; but peace between England and France 
was for a time deferred, by the "family com- 
pact" entered into by the latter country and 
Spain. The allied powers, however, dispirited 
by continued defeat, were at length brought 
to terms, and peace was finally restored by 
the Treaty of Fontainebleau, on the third of 
November, 1763. Nova Scotia, Canada and 
its dependencies, together with the entire com- 
mand of the country east of the Mississippi, 
were thus secured to Great Britain. 

Meantime, Bernard having been elevated 
to the government of Massachusetts, trans- 
ferred that of New Jersey to Thomas Boone. 
Being presently sent to South Carolina, Boone 
was succeeded by Josiah Hardy. In 1763, 
William, the natural and only son of Ben- 



142 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1763. 

jamin Franklin, through the powerful recom- 
mendation of Lord Bute, was appointed gover- 
nor of New Jersey, Hardy having been pre- 
viously nominated as consul at Cadiz. 

Soon after the commencement of Franklin's 
administration, an extensive conspiracy, having 
for its object the extermination of the whites, was 
formed by the Indians of Pennsylvania and 
of the territory north-west of the Ohio. At 
the head of the conspiracy of red men was 
Pontiac, the brave, active, and far-seeing chief 
of the Ottawas. The frontier posts were at- 
tacked and many of them captured. Scalping 
parties committed their customary atrocities in 
the border settlements. On the approach of 
the marauding parties to the western frontier 
of New Jersey, Governor Franklin extended 
the line of fortifications and ordered out the 
militia. But these were insufficient ; the sava- 
ges presently breaking through the line, and 
cruelly massacreing a number of families. Pro- 
vision was immediately made by the assembly 
for the further protection of the frontier, and 
troops raised to serve with the northern army 
against the Indians. New Jersey, however, 
was not again molested. 



1763.] COLONIAL EXPENDITURES. 143 



CHAPTER Xn. 

Colonial expenditures during the war — Project to tax Ame- 
rica — Obnoxious to the colonists — Unanimity of the pro- 
vinces — Stamp Act proposed — Remonstrance of the colo- 
nies — Stamp Act passed — Spirited resolutions of Virginia 
— National Congress recommended — Disapproved of by the 
New Jersey house — Indignation of the people against their 
representatives — House again convenes at Amboy — Dele- 
gates appointed to the Congress — Petition and remonstrance 
forwarded to England — New Jersey stamp-distributor re- 
signs — -Stamp Tax repealed — Party lines drawn — Oppo- 
sition to the Quartering Act — Townsend's tax bill passed — 
Agitation in the colonies — Language of the New Jersey 
house — Non-importation agreements — Violated b}'' New 
York traders — Their reception in New Jersey — Repeal of 
all taxes except the duty on tea — Popular tumults in Mon- 
mouth and Essex counties — Odious nature of the tax on 
tea — Rendered nugatory by non-importation agreements 
— Parliament endeavours to force tea into America — Tea 
destroyed at Boston and in New Jersey — Port of Boston 
closed — New Jersey people sympathize with their Massa- 
chusetts brethren — National Congress of 1774 — Battle of 
Lexington. 

In the long contest but lately terminated, the 
assistance England had received from her colo- 
nies was important. More than thirteen thou- 
sand provincials had perished by the sword and 
the diseases of camps ; and more than three 
millions of pounds were expended by the differ- 
ent colonies. During nearly the whole period 



144 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1763. 

of hostilities, New Jersey alone had maintained 
a thousand troops in the field, at an outlay 
amounting to over three hundred thousand 
pounds. Of all the money thus furnished, scarce- 
ly one-third had been reimbursed by Parliament. 

The promptitude with which the provinces 
had advanced means, and the little apparent in- 
convenience they suffered from the large de- 
mands made upon them, created in the minds of 
the English ministers an exaggerated opinion 
with regard to the wealth and resources of the 
colonists. England herself had expended im- 
mense sums in prosecuting the war. Some por- 
tion of this outlay was properly chargeable to 
the American colonies, and to them, therefore, 
the ministry were early led to look for reim- 
bursal. With this pretextthey immediately pre- 
pared to execute a design, conceived indeed 
long before, but which the necessity of a good 
feeling on the part of the colonists had hitherto 
prevented from being prominently brought for- 
ward. This was to impose upon them a tax 
for revenue, thus at once opening a source of 
emolument and asserting the prerogative of the 
crown. 

Yet the execution of this design was fraught 
with danger, which, however, but few foresaw. 
Individually the colonies had on all previous oc- 
casions expressed their abhorrence of measures 
involving the principle of unrepresented taxa- 



1764.] STAMP DUTIES PROPOSED. 145 

tion. During tbe late war, the clashing inter- 
ests that had hitherto divided them were in som& 
degree harmonized. The idea of union in a 
common cause had become familiar, Nothing 
could have been better calculated to strengthen 
that idea than an undue assertion of the royal 
prerogative. Nor were the colonists illj pre- 
pared to resist that assertion. They had be- 
come accustomed to arms, and to the discipline 
of the camp and the field ; and by their recent 
intercourse with o-ne another they had gained 
a knowledge, hitherto unknown, of their mutual 
resources and capabilities in the emergency of 
war. 

Notwithstanding the quiet yet pertinacious re- 
sistance of the colonies. Parliament had in va- 
rious ways wielded a sort of power over them,, 
highly obnoxious to some, and greatly detri- 
mental to the interests of all. That which was- 
the most odious — the levying of taxes for reve- 
nue — though frequently claimed, had never been 
exercised. Urged on by Grenville, the English 
chancellor. Parliament prepared to vindicate its 
asserted claim. After the adoption of several 
offensive measures, the House of Commons, in 
March, 1764, resolved that " it might be proper 
to charge certain stamp duties in the colonies." 
In accordance with this resolve a bill was coun- 
selled, imposing a duty on stamps, by which va- 
rious legal and other papers, to be valid in courts 

13 



146 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1765. 

of law, were to be drawn up on stamped paper, 
sold by public ofificers appointed for that pur- 
pose, and at prices which levied a stated tax on 
every such document. 

In America every effort was exerted to pre- 
vent the passage of this proposed act ; but re- 
monstrances, petitions, and denunciations were 
equally unavailing. On the twenty-second of 
March, 1765, it was passed with slight opposi- 
tion by the Commons, and by the Lords without a 
division. At the same time an act called the 
Quartering Act was passed, authorizing the mi- 
nistry to maintain a standing army in America, 
the several provincial assemblies being directed 
to supply the troops with quarters, fuel, lights, 
drink, soap and bedding. 

On receiving intelligence of the passage of 
these acts, the colonies became agitated by the 
keenest indignation. With singular unanimity 
they took bold and determined steps to prevent 
their effective operation. Virginia was the first 
to move. By the house of burgesses of that 
province resolutions were adopted, reciting in 
the most spirited language the rights and griev- 
ances of the colonists. Massachusetts followed, 
and recommended a National Congress, to meet 
at New York on the first Tuesday of October. 

On the twenty-ninth of June this recom- 
mendation was laid before the New Jersey as- 
sembly. Few in number, on the point of ad- 



1765.] DELEGATES TO CONGRESS. 147 

journment, and influenced probably by Franklin, 
who was an ardent supporter of the prerogative, 
the house paid but little attention to it, and 
somewhat hastily signified their disapproval of 
the proposed convention. Their conduct, how- 
ever, was keenly censured. So strong was the 
popular indignation, that Ogden, their speaker, 
found it necessary, in order to preserve the peace 
of the province, to convene the members, by 
circular, at Ambov. In defiance of Franklin's 
denunciation of their proceedings as " unprece- 
dented, irregular, and unconstitutional," they 
accordingly met and appointed Joseph Ogden, 
Hendrick Fisher, and Joseph Borden to be de- 
legates to the National Congress. 

At the time and place appointed, delegates 
from nine provinces assembled, and presently 
adopted a declaration of rights, in which it was 
forcibly contended that the colonies could not be 
taxed unless by their own consent. Eloquent 
memorials to both Houses of Parliament, and a 
petition to the king, spirited but respectful, were 
next agreed to and signed by most of the dele- 
gates present. To these, however, Ogden of 
New Jersey, and Ruggles of Massachusetts, re- 
fused to attach their signatures, on the ground 
that the approval of the several assemblies was 
first necessary. Ogden's conduct was severely 
censured at home. He was burned in effigy by 



148 HISTORY OF NETf JERSEY. [1765. 

tlie people, and finally forced to resign his place 
as speaker of the house. 

The proceedings of the National Congress 
were approved without a dissenting voice, by the 
assembly of New Jersey, which met early in the 
following month. Reiterating the sentiments 
adopted in the convention, the house protested 
strongly against the late Act of Parliament as 
utterly subversive of their ancient privileges. 
For this they were sharply reprehended by the 
governor, and immediately prorogued. 

Meanwhile steps of a less legitimate character 
had been taken to resist the operation of the 
Stamp Act. Associations designed to unite the 
people in forcible opposition to it, springing up 
in New York and Connecticut, and calling them- 
selves the *^Sons of Liberty," had extended 
rapidly into the adjoining colonies. Riots be- 
came frequent and alarming. Many of the stamp- 
officers were frightened into resignation. Others, 
among whom was Coxe of New Jersey, volun- 
tarily threw up their commissions. And when, 
on the first of November, the act went into ope- 
ration, neither stamps nor stamp-officers could 
be found. The obnoxious measure was in effect 
nullified. 

A change having meanwhile taken place in 
the British ministry, the colonists were encourag- 
ed to maintain their bold and determined stand. 
Besides, their agreement to import no more 



1766.] DISTINCTION^ OF PARTIES. 149 

British goods until the Stamp Act should be re- 
pealed, began to be felt seriously by the trading 
interest of England, which was thus led to fa- 
vour their cause. The eloquence and zeal of 
Pitt were also exerted in their behalf. Finally, 
with a show of liberality, but in reality as a 
matter of expediency, the new ministry procured 
the repeal of the odious act, in March, 1766. 
But in order to soothe the irritation of its friends, 
a bill was previously passed, asserting the power 
and right of Parliament "to bind the colonies in 
all cases whatsoever." This, however, w^as dis- 
regarded by the colonists in the joy they expe- 
rienced at their signal victory. 

To the New Jersey assembly, which presently 
met. Governor Franklin offered his congratula- 
tion on the repeal of the Stamp Act. This 
elicited a cutting reply. Franklin's strenuous 
efforts to prevent that desirable event were not 
forgotten. Still the assembly were willing to 
be grateful to the king and to Parliament for 
having relieved them from the burden of an 
" impolitic law." 

While with the mass of the colonists satisfac- 
tion was the prominent feeling, there were not 
wanting occasions for angry discussion in regard 
to the respective rights of the crown and the 
colonial assemblies. Party lines began to be 
strongly drawn ; such as advocated the royal 
prerogative being known as Tories, while the op- 

13* 



150 HISTORY OP NEW JERSEY. [1767. 

ponents of parliamentary taxation received the 
name of Whigs. 

Among other causes for the discontent which 
soon manifested itself was the enforcing of the 
Quartering Act. Partially complied with in 
Massachusetts, in New York it was wholly dis- 
regarded. In New Jersey a full compliance 
with its provisions was refused by the house, 
who declared that they considered it as much an 
act for levying taxes as the one recently repealed. 

Rockingham's ministry was speedily overturn- 
ed. With the formation of the new cabinet the 
aspect of colonial affairs became still more cloud- 
ed. Charles Townsend, a man of brilliant ta- 
lents, but with no fixed principle of action, oc- 
cupied the post of chancellor of the exchequer. 
Exasperated by the taunts of Grenville, he rashly 
declared in the House of Commons that he dared 
to tax America, and forthwith introduced a new 
scheme for drawing a revenue from the colonies, 
by a bill imposing custom-house taxation on 
glass, paper, paints, and tea. With scarcely a 
show of opposition, the bill was carried through 
Parliament, in June, 1767. 

Justly viewing this measure as identical in 
principle with the Stamp Act, the colonists at 
once began to agitate against it ; pouring in 
upon the ministry a continuous stream of peti- 
tions and remonstrances, and by essays and le- 
gislative resolves expressing the deep conviction 



1767.] NON-IMPORTATION AGREEMENTS. 151 

that their liberties had been invaded. Though 
couched in less fiery language than on the pre- 
vious occasion, these documents were character- 
ized bj logical acumen, a clear sense of the rights 
of the colonies, and a calm but fixed determina- 
tion to resist all and every attempt at parlia- 
mentary taxation. 

" Freemen cannot be taxed but by themselves 
or by their representatives," was the declaration 
of the New Jersey house of assembly to the 
king. "This privilege we esteem so invaluable 
that we are fully persuaded no other can exist 
without it. Duties have lately been imposed 
upon us for the sole and express purpose of 
raising a revenue. Yet, that we are represented 
in Parliament we not only cannot allow, but are 
convinced from our local circumstances we never 
can be." 

More efi'ective steps were presently taken. 
The former non-importation agreements were re- 
newed. As the direct imports of New Jersey 
were light, she could do little in the matter but 
encourage her commercial neighbours. At one 
time a few of the New York traders were in- 
duced to violate their voluntary pledges. Some 
of these persons soon after visiting New Bruns- 
wick and Woodbridge to dispose of their goods, 
the indignant populace fell upon them and drove 
them with violence from their respective towns. 
At other places public meetings were held, at 



152 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1770. 

which the recusants were held up to the scorn 
of all true friends of liberty, and bitterly de- 
nounced as foul traitors to their country. 

At length, as on the previous occasion, the 
manufacturers and traders of Eno-land beo;an to 
suffer. In their troubles they pressed the repeal 
of Townsend's obnoxious bill. As it had been 
almost impossible to enforce that act, nothing 
scarcely in the shape of revenue had accrued 
from it, while every day the indignation of the 
colonists was growing in strength and storminess. 
Consequently, and moved rather by their fears 
than by a sense of justice, the ministry procured 
the repeal of the Revenue Act, in April, 1770, 
reserving, however, a trifling duty on the single 
article of tea. 

Meanwhile local difficulties had sprung up in 
New Jersey, which at length led to alarming 
disturbances. The appearance of extraordinary 
prosperity occasioned by the late war, had been 
folloAved by a period of great and general dis- 
tress. Bankruptcies and suits-at-law became 
numerous. Debtors w^ere unable to settle their 
accounts, while the creditor bold enough to pro- 
secute, together with his attorney, was subjected 
to the ill-will of the debtor and his exasperated 
friends. Finally the lawyers became particu- 
larly obnoxious. Charging the whole legal fra- 
ternity with being a band of extortioners, the 
people of Monmouth county, in January, 1770, 



1770.] POLITICAL CALM. 153 

assembled at Freehold, where the court was then 
holding its session, tumultuously entered the 
court-house, drove the judges from their benches, 
and thus put a stop to further judicial proceed- 
ings. An attempt at a similar design in Essex 
county was frustrated by the vigilance of the 
public officers, assisted by the well-disposed citi- 
zens. To meet this crisis, a special meeting of 
the assembly was called. By the adoption of 
judicious measures, quiet was at length restored, 
though not until the passage of a law against 
excessive costs in the recovery of debts under 
fifty pounds. 

For nearly four years after the partial abro- 
gation of the Revenue Act, nothing of marked 
historical importance occurred in New Jersey. 
There, as in most of the other colonies, the pe- 
riod was one of political calm. But Parliament, 
by retaining the duty on tea, seemed to have es- 
tablished by precedent the right to tax Ame- 
rica. As it was the assertion of this right alone 
that had provoked the resistance of the colonists, 
the continuance of the tea-duty was a measure 
as insulting as it was weak. Pecuniarily insig- 
nificant, it was momentous in a political point 
of view. Yet, for a time, the colonists were 
content with a mere modification of their non- 
importation agreements so as to include tea 
only. By this means the tax on tea, as an as- 



154 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1770. 

sertion of parliamentary right, was rendered 
almost unavailing. 

Parliament at length determined upon a new 
attempt to draw a revenue from America by 
means of the reserved duty on tea. The colo- 
nists having steadily refused to import, seventeen 
millions of pounds of the obnoxious commodity 
had collected in the East India Company's ware- 
houses. To force a large quantity of this into 
the provinces might at once relieve the company 
from its embarrassment, and bring about the 
ministerial ends. Removing the export duty, 
and relieving the company of certain existing 
restraints, arrangements were made for shipping 
several cargoes of tea to the chief ports of Ame- 
rica, where it was expected it would be received 
willingly, and readily purchased, now that the 
duty was only a nominal one. 

But the colonists were vigilant. From New 
Hampshire to Georgia the cry of imperilled free- 
dom was again heard. Immediate steps were 
taken to avert the danger that so insidiously 
presented itself. In some places the tea was 
permitted to be landed and stored, but not to be 
sold. At Boston, when the tea-ships arrived, 
they were boarded by a party disguised as In- 
dians, and their cargoes cast into the sea. As 
the vessels were approaching New York and 
Philadelphia, they were stopped and compelled 
to return home. At Annapolis, the owner was 



1774.] SYMPATHY WITH MASSACHUSETTS. 155 

forced to set fire to the vessel containing the 
tea. The cargo of a ship landed and stored at 
Greenwich, New Jersey, late in 1774, was seized 
upon by the populace, and publicly burned to 
ashes. 

This bold overthrow of their plans goaded the 
ministry wellnigh to fury. Upon Massachusetts 
fell the heaviest stroke of their indignation. 
Stringent acts were hurried through Parliament, 
directed especially against the people of that 
province. Among others, bills to shut the port 
of Boston, and to subvert, in effect, the charter 
of the colony. The tidings speedily reached 
America. Sympathizing with Massachusetts, 
the colonies at once rose in her behalf. With 
their commerce annihilated by the Port Bill, the 
people of Boston soon stood in need of assist- 
ance. Contributions flowed into them from all 
parts of the country, and from no province more 
freely than from New Jersey. Forwarding their 
first "present," the inhabitants of Monmouth 
exhorted their Boston brethren ''not to give up, 
and if they should want a further supply of 
bread to let them know." The people of Eliza- 
bethtown were equally liberal, and from Salem 
one hundred and fifty pounds were sent to " the 
distressed and suffering poor of Boston." 

Matters were now approaching a crisis. Tho- 
roughly aroused by the recent action of the mi- 
nistry and of Parliament, the colonists prepared 



156 HISTORY OF NEW JEESEY. [1775. 

for active and determined resistance. A nation- 
al Congress was recommended, to be composed 
of delegates from the several provinces. This 
recommendation met a hearty response from all 
sides. On the fifth of September, 1774, dele- 
gates from twelve colonies convened at Philadel- 
phia, and, after a long and anxious session, adopt- 
ed a petition to the king, a declaration of rights, 
a memorial to the people of England, and an 
address to the inhabitants of Canada. 

The proceedings of this Congress were laid 
before the New Jersey assembly, on the 24th of 
January, 1775. Notwithstanding the strenuous 
endeavours of Governor Franklin to prevent it, 
the house approved of the report unanimously, 
save that the Quaker members excepted to such 
portions as seemed to look toward forcible re- 
sistance. 

From this period the aspect of affairs continued 
to grow more and more troubled ; and at length 
by the battle of Lexington, on the 19th of April, 
the War of Independence was fairly opened. 
Little hope was now left of a peaceful adjust- 
ment of the difficulties existing between the colo- 
nies and the mother country. 



1775.] ACTIVITY OF THE PROVINCIALS. 157 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Affair of Lexington — Military activity of the provincials — Pro- 
ceedings of Congress — Ticonderoga surprised by Ethan Allen 
— Lord North's conciliatory plan rejected by New Jersey — 
Organization of the militia — Battle of Bunker Hill — Evacu- 
ation of Boston by the British — Declaration of Independence 
— State of New Jersey formed — Livingston elected governor 
— New York menaced by Howe — Activity of Washington 
— Battle of Long Island — New York evacuated by the Ame- 
ricans — Capture of Fort Washington by the British — Re- 
treat of Washington across the Jerseys — Condition of his 
troops — Meeting of the first state legislature — The Ameri- 
can army crosses the Delaware — Capture of General Lee — 
Surprise of the Hessians at Trenton. 

The affair at Lexington kindled a spirit of re- 
solute resistance throughout the country. In 
New England especially, extraordinary zeal was 
displayed by the provincials. Within two days 
after the fight an irregular volunteer force of 
twenty thousand men had beleaguered Boston. 
In the middle and southern colonies a spirit 
scarcely less active and prompt was displayed, 
and every thing betokened that an earnest and 
determined struo;crle was at hand. 

CO 

To the Continental Congress, which met in 
May, public attention was anxiously directed. 
Declaring that hostilities were already begun by 
Great Britain, they prepared to put the colonies 

14 



158 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1775. 

in a posture of defence. As no general idea 
was yet entertained of independence, a firm but 
respectful petition to the king was resolved upon, 
while memorials were addressed to the people of 
England, Ireland, and Quebec ; in which, boldly 
stating the rights of the colonies. Congress 
spiritedly vindicated its former course and its 
present designs. 

While the National Congress was thus engaged, 
a party of provincials, led by Ethan Allen and 
Seth Warner, had captured the fortresses of Ti- 
conderoga and Crown Point. Artillery, and a 
large amount of ammunition and military 
stores thus fell into the hands of the needy 
colonists. 

Five days afterward, on the 15th of May, the 
New Jersey assembly, at the call of Franklin, 
convened to consider the specious but unconces- 
sive '<: conciliatory plan" of Lord North. Though 
recommended earnestly by the governor in an 
elaborate address, the house firmly and solemnly 
declined assenting to the proposition. Finding 
them immovable, Franklin ordered an adjourn- 
ment. Subsequently a few days, a Provincial 
Congress convened at Trenton, and agreed upon 
an association for the defence of colonial rights 
against the aggression of the British ministry. 
Declining to authorize a levy of regular troops 
until some general plan should be formed, they 
adopted measures for organizing the militia, and 



1775.] REGULAKS ENLISTED. 159 

ordered the issue of ten thousand pounds in bills 
of credit, to defray expenses. 

At length the battle of Bunker Hill, on the 
17th of June, wellnigh brought all hope of re- 
conciliation to an end. In the mean time, the 
National Congress had made arrangements for a 
continental army, at the head of which was 
George "Washington of Virginia. Washington 
presently took command of the provincials in- 
vesting Boston. While he was busied in organ- 
izing these brave but untrained troops, Congress 
engaged itself in providing for their support, 
pay, and government. 

On the fifth of August the Provincial Congress 
of New Jersey again met, and made further pro- 
vision for organizing the militia, to command 
which they appointed Philemon Dickinson and 
William Livingston, both persons already cele- 
brated for their patriotism. Having chosen a 
provincial treasurer and a committee of safety, 
the congress adjourned. Meeting again on the 
third of October, they ordered the enlistment of 
two regiments of regulars, the command of one 
of which was given to William Maxwell, and of 
the other to William Alexander, commonly called 
Lord Stirling. Thirty thousand pounds were 
issued in provincial bills, to defray the expenses 
thus incurred. 

Meanwhile Franklin had been active in his 
opposition. Convening the general assembly on 



160 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1776. 

the sixteenth of November, he complained to 
the members that '' sentiments of independence 
had been openly avowed, and that essays had 
appeared, ridiculing the people's fears of that 
horrid measure." In reply, the house declared 
that they knew "of no sentiments of indepen- 
dency openly avowed," and that they "approved 
of no essays tending to such a measure." They 
remained in session, transacting their ordinary 
business, until the 6th of December, when they 
were proroguecJ for a brief period. But they 
never again met. 

To meet a requisition for additional troops, 
the Provincial Congress assembled at New 
Brunswick, on the 31st of January, 1776. An 
attack upon the colonies through Canada having 
been planned by England, the Continental Con- 
gress determined to thwart it by a counter- 
movement. In this exigency, New Jersey order- 
ed the enlistment of another regiment, and made 
a further appropriation of twenty thousand 
pounds. 

Meanwhile Washington had maintained a close 
investment of the British in Boston. Wearied 
out at length, they evacuated the city in March, 
when the triumphant provincials took immediate 
and joyful possession. 

For nearly a year the colonists had been in 
arms against the mother country. Entire inde- 
pendence, however, had not as yet been asserted. 



1776.] LIYIXGSTON ELECTED GOVERNOR. 161 

But on the seventh of June, it was at length 
moved in. the National Congress, ''that the United 
Colonies are, and ought to be, free and inde- 
pedent states ; and that their political connec- 
tion with Great Britain is, and ought to be, dis- 
solved." The resolution passed by a small ma- 
jority. The delegates from New Jersey had 
been expressly instructed against it. Presently, 
however, a new set was chosen, with directions 
to cast their suffrages for independence. On 
the fourth of July following, a formal declaration 
to that effect was adopted by the Continental 
Congress, and signed by most of the members 
present. 

Already the Congress of New Jersey had pre- 
pared and adopted a new and independent con- 
stitution ; and, having presently agreed to the 
national declaration, they assumed the style and 
title of the "Convention of the State of New 
Jersey." On the 31st of August following, 
AYilliam Livingston, commander-in-chief of the 
militia, was elected the first governor of the 
state — Franklin, the old colonial executive, 
having been made prisoner some time previously 
for corresponding with the enemy. Removed to 
Connecticut, Franklin was there kept in close 
confinement until the end of the war, when he 
sailed, a voluntary exile from the country of his 
birth, to England. 

Meanwhile the arms of the provincials had 

14* ' 



162 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1776. 

met with a series of disasters. The campaign 
against Canada, which opened with the most 
brilliant prospect of success, had terminated in 
the precipitate retreat of the American forces 
to Crown Point, and subsequently to Ticonde- 
roga. 

Early in July, General Howe, with the late 
garrison of Boston, and other troops from Hali- 
fax, landed on Staten Island, from which he 
threatened an attack on the city of New York. 
Calling upon New York and New Jersey for 
troops, Washington immediately hastened to de- 
fend the beleaguered city. In a month's time, by 
dint of extraordinary exertions, he was enabled 
to swell his army to about twenty thousand 
sickly, ill-equipped, and half-trained soldiers. 
His opponent, meanwhile, had received numerous 
reinforcements, raising his force to nearly twen- 
ty-four thousand of the best troops in the British 
service. 

At length Howe began to move. Advancing 
cautiously by the way of Long Island, he suc- 
ceeded, after subjecting the Americans to a dis- 
astrous defeat, in encamping in front of their 
lines at Brooklyn, on the night of the 27th of 
August. Washington presently retreated across 
the East River. Howe followed on the 13th of 
September, and landed three miles above New 
York, putting to dastardly jQight the provincials 
stationed to oppose him. The city was imme- 



1776.] BETREAT OF THE ARMY. 163 

diately abandoned by the Americans, and the 
British took possession. 

Washington intrenched himself on Harlem 
Heights. After a series of cautious movements 
on the part of both generals, Howe seemed to 
threaten New Jersey, when the main body 
of the Continental army crossed to the west 
bank of the Hudson, under the immediate 
direction of Washington himself. On the 16th 
of November, Fort Washington, with its nume- 
rous garrison and immense stores, fell into the 
enemy's hands. Fort Lee, on the Jersey shore 
of the Hudson, was hastily evacuated by the 
Americans. Washington, whose army was now 
reduced to four thousand men, took ground on 
a level plain between the Hackensack and 
Passaic, but a superior British force under 
'Cornwallis advancing against him, he was com- 
pelled to commence a rapid retreat across the 
Jerseys. 

This retreat was accompanied by almost every 
circumstance that could harass and depress the 
spirits. The severity of winter had already set 
in. Depressed by a succession of disasters, the 
little army of Americans moved wearily on, illy 
clad, without tents, and with scarcely a blanket 
to protect them from the rigor of the season. 
Pressing them closely was the force of Cornwal- 
lis, flushed with previous good fortune, wanting 
none of the necessaries of camp, and dazzling 



164 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1776. 

by the brilliancy of their equipments. It is 
scarcely to be wondered, then, that the militia 
of New Jersey, upon contrasting the different 
appearance of the two armies, exhibited a re- 
luctance to take the field, though every exertion 
was made by their new and popular governor to 
induce them to rally in defence of their country 
and its liberties. 

The first legislature under the lately-formed 
constitution was still in session at Princeton, 
when the flying Americans made their appear- 
ance. They immediately broke up, to assemble 
again at Burlington ; but the tide of war advanc- 
ing upon them there, they retired to Pittstown, 
and finally to Haddonfield, where they presently 
dissolved. 

Washington havino; reached Trenton, was there 
reinforced by fifteen hundred Philadelphians. 
Finding Cornwallis pause at Brunswick, he de- 
tached twelve hundred men to Princeton, in the 
hope of checking the British advance. But 
the English general pressed on with a superior 
force, and no alternative was left but to fight or 
to cross the Delaware. An engagement was not 
to be thought of ; the latter course was accord- 
ingly adopted. As the American rear-guard 
pushed from the Jersey shore, the van of the j 
British came in sight. Washington having taken 
the precaution to secure all the boats on the 
Delaware, Cornwallis was unable to pursue the 



1776.] CAPTURE OF LEE. 165 

retreating Americans ; upon which he deter- 
mined to close the campaign, and go into winter 
quarters, occupying various points above and 
below Trenton. Washington rested on the 
western bank of the river, keeping a vigilant 
watch over the fords by which the enemy might 
be expected to cross. 

The American general was in the mean time 
strenuously endeavouring to augment his force. 
During his hasty and anxious retreat, he had 
repeatedly ordered Lee to pass the Hudson 
and unite with the main army ; but apparently 
anxious to retain his separate command, that 
ambitious officer had tardily obeyed. Oppos- 
ing the judgment of Washington, he proposed 
to take stand at Morristown. Ordered again 
to march, he moved reluctantly toward the 
Delaware, by a road some twenty miles west 
of that pursued by the British. Having in- 
discreetly quartered at a distance from his 
troops, information was given by a countryman 
to Colonel Harcourt, who, with a body of British 
cavalry, formed and executed the design of 
making him prisoner. Unaware of the enemy's 
approach, and protected by but a slight guard, 
Lee was easily captured. Lee's services had 
been estimated highly, and the misfortune of his 
capture cast a deeper shade upon the despond- 
ency of the Americans. 

The cause of American independence seemed 



166 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1776. 

now to be utterly hopeless. The little army 
under Washington could with difficulty be held 
together. But the American general was watch- 
ful of every opportunity. In the dispersed situa- 
tion of the British troops, he quickly perceived 
an exposure to successful attack, and formed 
a plan to assail, simultaneously, the posts along 
the Delaware. About fifteen hundred Hessians 
were stationed at Trenton. The capture or de- 
struction of these was the chief object of the 
American commander's daring design. The 
night of the twenty-fifth of December was fixed 
upon for the movement. Washington proposed 
to recross the Delaware about nine miles above 
Trenton, with two thousand five hundred troops, 
and march down in two divisions, one by the 
river, and the other by the Pennington road. 
General Irvine was to cross at the Trenton 
ferry and secure the bridge below the town, 
while General Cadwallader was to pass at Dunk's 
Eerry, and surprise the enemy's posts at Mount 
Holly. 

The night of the twenty-fifth of December 
was cold in the extreme. The river was fill- 
ed with floating ice; and snow, rain, and hail 
were falling heavily. It was nearly three 
o'clock before Washington reached the Jersey 
shore. The two columns took up their respect- 
ive lines of march, and at about eight o'clock 
in the morning, drove in the outposts of the 



1776.] TRIUMPH AT TRENTON. 167 

surprised and startled enemy. Rallied by 
their commander, they made a brief but inef- 
fectual resistance. So vigorously did both 
American divisions press forward, that the Hes- 
sians could only look around for the safest road 
to retreat. The light-horse and a portion of 
the infantry succeeded in escaping by the 
Bordentown road. The main body fled along 
the road to Princeton, but were checked by a 
regiment of Pennsylvania riflemen. Their six 
field-pieces had been captured early in the 
action, and now, surrounded and dispirited by 
the sudden attack, one thousand Hessians laid 
down their arms and became prisoners of war. 

In securing this brilliant and unexpected tri- 
umph, the Americans had lost but two privates 
killed, two frozen to death, and one ofiicer 
and three or four privates wounded. Of the 
enemy, about twenty were left dead upon the 
field, among these was Colonel Rawle, their 
commander. 

But the plan of Washington was not wholly 
successful. Generals Irvine and Cadwallader 
were unable to cross the river in consequence 
of the quantity of ice. Thus the road to 
Bordentown was left open, and the post at 
Mount Holly escaped attack. Nevertheless, the 
success of Washington was of itself sufi5cient to 
cheer the hearts of the Americans. Its mate- 
rial results were considerable, but its moral 



168 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1777. 

effect, both upon the British and the colonists? 
was astonishing. The British were suddenly 
shown that their task was not so nearly complet- 
ed as they had imagined, while the Americans 
were as quickly raised from the gloom of de- 
spondency to the light of a glorious hope. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Washington takes post at Trenton — Cornwallis advances 
against him — Perilous situation of the American commander 
— His daring scheme to escape — Attaclis and defeats the 
enemy at Princeton — Subsequent movements of the con- 
tending armies — Washington goes into winter quarters at 
Morristown — Inspiriting effect of the late victories — Out- 
rages committed by the enemy — New Jersey militia take the 
field — Skirmishes near Springfield and Hillsborough — Wash- 
ington's proclamation to the disaffected inhabitants — Ex- 
ceptions taken to it — Legislature convenes — Difficulties in 
framing a new militia law — Non-resistance principles re- 
spected — Dissatisfaction of Livingston — " Council of Safety" 
appointed — Its extraordinary powers — Bill to confiscate the 
estates of Tories — Its favourable conditions — 'Plundering ex- 
peditions of the Tories from New York. 

Recrossing the Delaware, Washington sent 
his prisoners to Philadelphia. Startled by the 
sudden and unexpected stroke they had received, 
the British broke up their cantonments along 
the river, and fell back to Princeton, where a 
large army" was soon concentrated under the 



1777.] PERILOUS POSITIOI^. 169 

command of Cornwallis. Informed of this move- 
ment, AYashington once more crossed the Dela- 
ware to Trenton, with the determination of en- 
deavom^ing to recover the Jerseys. Here he was 
joined by General MifBin, with a considerable 
reinforcement of Pennsylvania volunteers ; but 
even with this addition his army did not number 
more than five thousand men, of whom one-half 
had never before been in the field. What was 
still more disheartening, in that number were 
the New England regiments, whose term of ser- 
vice was in a few days to expire. By the per- 
suasions of their officers, however, and the pro- 
mise of bounty, they were induced to re-engage 
for a further period of six weeks. 

Scarcely was this difficulty surmounted, when 
Cornwallis, on the second of January, 1777, with 
a force fully equal to Washington's in point of 
numbers, and far superior to it in discipline, 
made a sudden advance toward the American 
lines. As he approached, Washington withdrew 
across the Assunpink, a small stream flowing 
into the Delaware at Trenton. The diff'erent 
passages being vigilantly guarded by his artil- 
lery, the British were finable to follow; and after 
a brisk cannonatle, 'vfhich lasted until dark, the 
belligerents kindled their fires and encamped. 

The American commander was now in a peril- 
ous position, from which nothing but a masterly 
and decisive movement could deliver him. To 

15 



170 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1777. 

retreat across the Delaware was scarcely possi- 
ble, and to maintain his present ground would be 
to hazard the safety of his little army. He 
summoned a council of war. After some delibe- 
ration a daring scheme was planned to gain the 
enemy's rear, attack their forces still lingering 
at Trenton, and then destroy their baggage and 
stores at Brunswick. 

Silently sending his own baggage down the 
river to Burlington, "Washington hastened to put 
his plan into execution. To deceive the enemy 
as to his movement, fresh fuel was added to the 
camp-fires, and small parties were ordered to 
throw up intrenchments within hearing of their 
sentinels. These arrangements being completed, 
about midnight the army moved off by a circuit- 
ous route to Princeton. So noiselessly was the 
manoeuvre executed that the enemy received no 
intimation of it until daybreak; while some of 
the American militia officers, having withdrawn 
to the rear to obtain an undisturbed sleep, were, 
on the following morning, totally ignorant of 
what had become of their comrades. 

At Princeton three British regiments had pass- 
ed the night. Two of t^iese were already on 
their march toward Trenton, when in the gray 
of the morning they encountered the American 
vanguard, composed of militia under the com- 
mand of General Mercer. A sharp action en- 
sued. The militia soon gave way, and while 



17TT.] SKIRMISH AT PRINCETOX. 171 

gallantly endeavouring to rally tliem, Mercer re- 
cewed a mortal wound. The check, however, 
was but momentary. Moving up rapidly with 
the main body, Washington, exposing himself to 
the full fire of the enemy, headed a fresh and 
overwhelming charge. The British were in turn 
driven back, and the two marching regiments sepa- 
rated. The one in advance managed to regain 
the road to Trenton, and thus escaped ; the other 
fled hurriedly across the fields to Brunswick. 
Abandoning the pursuit, Washington pushed on 
to Princeton, where the third regiment had taken 
post in the college. At first they made some 
slight resistance, but the American artillery 
having been brought up, all further struggle was 
vain, and they yielded. A few, however, escaped 
by a precipitate flight to Brunswick. 

The loss of the provincials in this spirited 
action was about one hundred men, including 
several gallant officers. One hundred of the 
enemy were slain, a large number wounded, and 
upward of three hundred made prisoners. 

Scarcely was victory achieved when Wash- 
ington again found his situation one of extreme 
peril. His troops were exhausted by their night- 
march and the fatigues of battle. With the 
frozen sky of winter above them, many were 
barefooted, others destitute of blankets, and all 
thinly or imperfectly clad. Wholly unable to 
fight, retreat was barely possible. Yet Corn- 



172 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1777. 

wallis was close upon them, with an army in 
every way superior. Hearing the roar of can- 
non at Princeton, he had immediately fathom- 
ed the intentions of the American chief. Anxiety 
for the safety of his baggage at once drew his 
attention to Brunswick. Breaking up his camp 
at Trenton, he pushed forward so rapidly that 
Washington but narrowly escaped his vigorous 
onset. Wisely abandoning his contemplated at- 
tack on Brunswick, the latter sought a less ex- 
posed situation, where his soldiers would be en- 
abled to find shelter and repose. The hilly 
country" around Morristown offered many strong 
positions ;" and, besides, a considerable force of 
regulars and militia was there concentrated. 
Accordingly Washington directed his march to 
that place. Hastily constructing a number of 
rude huts, he there encamped for the winter, 
with the main body of the army ; Putnam rest- 
ing with the right wing on Princeton, while 
Heath, in command of the left, took post in the 
fastnesses of the highlands. A continuous 
chain of cantonments kept open the communica- 
tion between these three points. Meanwhile 
Cornwallis went into winter quarters at Bruns- 
wick. 

The triumphs at Trenton and Princeton fol- 
lowing one another so closely, and gained by an 
army that just before had seemed upon the point 
of breaking up, gave the highest confidence to 



1777.] RAVAGES OF BRITISH TROOPS. 178 

the American people, not only in the abilities of 
their commander, but also that their cause would 
be eventually successful. Nor was this feeling 
confined to the colonies. On the continent of 
Europe, Washington's masterly prudence received 
the highest commendation. 

At home the hopes created as to the favour- 
able issue of the war were such as to wonder- 
fully revive the recruiting service, which had 
been previously attended with but unimportant 
success. Though the regiments called for were 
not filled up, still the organization of a new 
army proceeded with the fairest prospects. 

But it was in New Jersey that public feeling 
had undergone the greatest and most favourable 
change, which, however, cannot be wholly at- 
tributed to the successes of Washington. Many 
of the people, doubtful or lukewarm as to the 
ultimate triumph of the patriots, had either re- 
mained at home, or accepted British protection. 
Yet neither their neutrality nor their protection 
had saved them from the ravages and plunder 
of the enemy, during their various marches 
through the state. Churches and other public 
buildings, as well as private residences, with all 
their furniture, were destroyed in the most 
wanton manner. Neither old age nor the weak- 
ness of womanhood protected from outrage. 
Children and infants, and gray-haired men and 
matrons, were stripped of their clothing, and 

15* 



174 HISTORY OP NEW JERSEY. [1777. 

left to shiver in the cold of winter ; while the 
violation of females, even of a tender age, added 
the last drop that caused the cup of their bitter- 
ness to overflow. 

At once the country rose upon the invaders. 
The wanton outrages of the royal army efi'ected 
that which the eloquence of Livingston, united 
with the entreaties of Washington, had all along 
been incapable of producing. The militia of 
New Jersey were aroused to shake off this apathy ; 
and from this period until the close of the anx- 
ious and weary struggle, no body of men ac- 
quired a more favourable reputation, or conduct- 
ed themselves with a greater degree of disciplined 
activity and spirit. Eagerly joining the parties 
sent out by Washington, or acting independently 
under their own leaders, they performed valu- 
able service in harassing the British outposts, 
and in breaking up the numerous bands of 
Tories that infested many portions of the state. 

A few days subsequent to the fight at Prince- 
ton, Colonel Spencer, with some forty or fifty 
of the militia, surprised an equal number of 
Hessians near Springfield, and killed or captured 
the whole party. For his gallantry on this oc- 
casion, Spencer was rewarded with the command 
of a regular regiment. 

About a fortnight afterward, General Dickin- 
son received information that some four hundred 
of the enemy were foraging in the neighbour- 



1777.] ROUT OF A FORAGING PARTY. 175 

hood of Hillsborough. Collecting four hundred 
of the militia, to which were joined fifty Penn- 
sylvania riflemen, Dickinson hastened to cut 
the party off. They had just crossed the Mill- 
stone River, a stream uniting with the Raritan 
three miles below Hillsborough, when the Ameri- 
cans came up. The river was waist deep, and 
running rapidly; but the militia, heedless of 
the rushing waters, dashed forward with impetu- 
ous daring. Without unlimbering their cannon, 
of which they had three, the enemy fled pre- 
cipitately. So rapid was their flight, indeed, 
that the Americans could make but few prison- 
ers. Forty wagons, however, more than a hun- 
dred horses, and a numerous drove of cattle 
and sheep remained in their hands as the fruit 
of victory. The loss of the enemy could not be 
definitely ascertained, but they carried off many 
dead and wounded in their light wagons. That 
of the militia was trifling. 

These brilliant though, perhaps, not very im- 
portant affairs, served to indicate the existence 
of a sturdier patriotism than the people of New 
J^ersey had hitherto displayed. But, while 
gratified with such evidences of public spirit, 
Washington was pained to be compelled to issue 
a stern decree against ^'the infamous practice," 
common to both militia and regulars, "of plun- 
dering the inhabitants under the pretence of their 
being Tories." 



176 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1776. 

Another proclamation, as humane as it was 
politic, was, on the 25th of January, address- 
ed to those who had submitted to the British, 
or accepted their protection, requiring them, as 
the condition of a full pardon, to repair to the 
nearest general officer, surrender their protec- 
tion papers, and swear allegiance to the United 
States. They were, at the same time, discharg- 
ed from any obligations they might owe to the 
king. ^ 

Claiming that allegiance was due to the state, 
and not to the confederacy, one of the New 
Jersey congressmen objected to this proclama- 
tion on the ground that it infringed upon 
state rights. But Congress approved of it, and 
the legislature of the state presently passed an 
act framed in a similar spirit. Its results were 
speedy and cheering; people flocking in from 
all parts to submit to the authority of the con- 
federacy, and to engage in behalf of that great 
cause which had called it into existence. 

Shortly after Washington had issued the pro- 
clamation alluded to, the assembly of New Jer- 
sey was again convened. 

The first subject that pressed their attention 
was the passage of a new law to regulate the 
militia. \Yashington, through Governor Li- 
vingston, had repeatedly urged that " every man 
capable of bearing arms, should be obliged to 
turn out, and not be permitted to buy off his 



1776.] COUNCIL OF SAFETY. 177 

services for a trifling sum," as was the case 
under the law then in operation. "We want 
men," said he, "not money." But the Quakers 
of West Jersey were numerous, and non-resist- 
ance was one of their most cherished doctrines. 
Believing that it would be useless, impolitic, and 
highly oppressive to attempt to force this class 
of persons to participate in measures directly at 
variance with the prime points of their religious 
creed, the assembly, in framing the new militia 
law, which they presently enacted, would modify 
this portion of it in no other way than by in- 
creasing the sum that was required to purchase 
exemption f^om military duty. 

Prudent as the course of the assembly will 
now be regarded, the patriotic Livingston could 
not view it in a satisfactory light. But the 
keenness of his disappointment was afterward 
mitigated in some degree, by the ready concur- 
rence of both houses in his plan for a " Council 
of Safety," to consist of the governor and twelve 
of the representatives, with extraordinary pow- 
ers, to act during the recess of the legislature. 
This council was authorized to correspond with 
Congress and with other states, to perform the 
duties of justices of peace, to apprehend and 
imprison disaifected persons, and to call out such 
portions of the militia as they might deem ne- 
cessary to execute the laws. 

Likewise, on the recommendation of Livings- 



178 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1776. 

ton, another bill was presently passed, author- 
izing the confiscation of the personal estates of 
all those who still adhered to the British interest ; 
yet allowing such persons a period of grace, in 
which, upon renewing their allegiance to the 
state, they might return and take possession of 
their property. 

Many took advantage of this condition, and 
were restored to all their former rights and pri- 
vileges ; others, however, assembling in and 
around New York, endeavoured to make up for 
the loss of their estates by the fitting out of 
privateers, and by plundering expeditions into 
their old neighbourhoods. Nor did they stop 
with these. Deeply incensed against the more 
prominent patriots, they seized every opportunity 
to work them injury ; and, aided by secret friends, 
they were enabled to kidnap several of them, and 
carry them off to the prisons of New York. Re- 
taliation, of course, followed, with all the fierce- 
ness of a civil and partisan contest. 



17TT.] OPENING OF CAMPAIGN. 179 



CHAPTER XV. 

Opening of the campaign of 1777 — American stores at Peeks- 
kill destroyed — Skirmish at Boundbrook — Washington takes 
a strong position at Middlebrook — Howe's feint to draw him 
from his camp — Its ill success — Howe retreats to Amboy — 
Washington advances to Quibbletown — Howe returns to 
attack him — Is again foiled — Retires to Staten Island, and 
embarks for the southward — Perplexity of Washington in 
regard to his movements — Loyalists on Staten Island be- 
come troublesome — Sullivan's attempt against them — Howe 
lands at the head of Chesapeake Bay — Battle of Brandy- 
wine — Wayne surprised at Paoli — Howe enters Philadelphia 
— Clinton ravages East Jersey — Battle of Germantown — 
American successes at the north — Movements on the Dela- 
ware — American works at Byllinsport captured — Defences 
near the mouth of the Schuylkill — Donop assaults Red 
Bank and is repulsed — Re-election of Livingston — Dickin- 
son's attempt against the Staten Island Tories — Fort Mifflin 
evacuated and Red Bank abandoned — British in full pos- 
session of the Delaware — Skirmish near Gloucester Point — 
Washington goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge. 

Washington had rested at Morristown nearly 
three months before the British began to give 
indications of activity. At length Howe open- 
ed the campaign in March, by sending a detach- 
ment of five hundred men to Peekskill, on the 
Hudson, where they succeeded in destroying a 
quantity of stores which the Americans had col- 
lected at that point. 

At Boundbrook, in the neighbourhood of 



180 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1777. 

Bi'unswick, a considerable American force had 
been posted to guard the upper valley of the 
Raritan. With the design of capturing this de- 
tachment, Corn^yallis, on the 13th of April, sud- 
denly issued from his camp at Brunswick, with a 
large body of troops. The American guard not 
being sufficiently watchful, narrowly escaped a 
complete surprise. As it was, they lost twenty 
men, two pieces of artillery, and a small amount 
of baggage, before they could gain a safe 
position. 

Washington was soon convinced that Burgoyne, 
who now commanded the British army in Cana- 
da, would attempt to force his way, by Lake 
Champlain and the Hudson, to New^ York. It 
was equally clear to him that Howe would en- 
deavour either to push up the North River or to 
capture Philadelphia. He therefore determined 
to make such a disposition of his forces that, by 
the different divisions being enabled to recipro- 
cally aid each other, any one of these expected 
movements might be counteracted. While St. 
Clair, with three thousand men, was, left at Ti- 
conderoga, and Putnam, at the head of the east- 
ern levies, in the highlands, the commander-in- 
chief, with the main body of the army, scarcely 
eight thousand strong, shifted his camp to Mid- 
dlebrook, behind a range of commanding hills, 
about twelve miles from Princeton. His new 
position was one of great strength. From the 



1777.] PEINT OF HOWE, 181 

heights in front a full view could be obtained of 
the country between Amboy and Brunswick^ and 
he was thus enabled to observe all the important 
movements of the enemy in that quarter. A 
body of continentals and New Jersey militia, 
under General Sullivan, was stationed at Prince- 
ton. Arnold, in command at Philadelphia, was 
employed with Mifflin in preparing for its de- 
fence. 

Hoping to draw Washington into a general 
engagement on ground more advantageous for 
himself, Lord Howe, on the ISth of June, march- 
ed out of Brunswick with a powerful army, ap- 
parently intending to force his way to Philadel- 
phia. Calling to his aid most of the troops 
under Putnam, and ordering Sullivan to retire 
from Princeton to the more elevated and securer 
grounds of Rocky Hill, the American general 
drew up his army in order of battle on the 
heights fronting his camp, and kept a close watch 
upon the movements of the enemy. Meanwhile 
the militia had turned out in force, and with an 
alacrity they had not hitherto displayed. 

Finding his feint insufficient to draw AYash- 
ington from the impregnable position he occupied, 
and constantly harassed by small parties of the 
militia, Howe retreated with some precipitation to 
Amboy, whence he began to pass his troops over 
to Staten Island, from which, in accordance 

16 



182 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. • [1777. 

with his original design, he made preparations to 
proceed by sea to Philadelphia. 

To cover the light parties that had been de- 
ftaxshed to annoy the retreat of Howe, Washing- 
torn moved with the main body of the army to 
Quibbletown; the van, under Stirling, having 
deseeaded to the low grounds, yet a few miles 
nearer to the British. Howe immediately pre- 
pared to execute a skilful manoeuvre to bring on 
a general engagement, in which, as the Ameri- 
vfians were now situated, he was fully confident of 
obtaining a triumph. 

Recalling the troops on Staten Island, he 
wheeled suddenly around, and made a rapid 
movement, is. two columns, toward the heights 
^nd passes on the American left, which he thus 
hoped to tura. Happily "Washington received 
early intelligence of the British advance. Pene- 
irating immediately the design of Howe, he fell 
rapidly back t^ his cherished position at Middle- 
brook. During this retrograde movement, Stir- 
ling encountered the right column of the enemy 
under Cornwallis. A spirited skirmish ensued, 
which resulted in the retreat of the Americans, 
with the loss of a few men and three field- 
pieces. 

Baffled in his main design, and not choosing 
to attack Washington's present position, Howe 
withdrew to Amboy, and thence to Staten Island. 
Amboy, being thus abandoned, was immediately 



177T.] INCURSIONS OF LOYALISTS. 183 

occupied by a division of the American army. 
On the 30th of June, leaving five thousand 
troops to hold New York, the British general 
embarked with sixteen thousand men for Phila- 
delphia. 

Under the impression that Howe intended to 
push up the Hudson and co-operate with Bur- 
goyne, who was already in the neighbourhood 
of Ticonderoga, Washington marched leisurely 
toward the highlands ; but the British fleet pre- 
sently appearing off the capes of the Delaware, 
he retraced his steps through New Jersey and 
took post in the vicinity of Philadelphia. 

Howe disappeared almost as soon as he was 
observed, nor was the fleet seen again until a 
month had nearly elapsed. Perplexed and 
anxious as to the final destination of the enemy, 
Washington remained at Philadelphia, indus- 
triously preparing for its defence. 

Meanwhile the British troops left on Staten 
Island had rendered themselves highly obnoxious. 
About, one thousand, or a third of their number, 
consisted of several loyalist or Tory regiments, 
which were stationed at various points on the 
coast nearest the Jersey shore. Thus posted, 
they made frequent incursions against the peo- 
ple of New Jersey, whom they plundered with- 
out the least scruple ; and, at length, in one of 
these marauding expeditions they carried ofi" twelve 
of the most prominent patriots in that section 



184 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1777. 

of the state. A counter expedition, to capture 
the loyalist regiments, was immediately planned 
by Sullivan, who yet remained in New Jersey 
with his division. 

"With picked men from his own command, and 
a few Jersey militia under Colonel Frelinghuy- 
sen, numbering in all about one thousand, Sul- 
livan embarked for Staten Island, during the 
night of the twenty-first of August, and by 
dawn of the next day had succeeded in landing 
unperceived by the enemy. Two loyalist regi- 
ments were surprised, and many prisoners made ; 
but the alarm had been given, and a body of 
British regulars was hastening from another 
part of the island to intercept Sullivan's re- 
treat. In this they were partially successful. 
The American general had sent off his prisoners 
in a captured vessel. Discovering British uni- 
forms on the deck of this vessel, some of Sulli- 
van's boats took the alarm and fled. His re- 
embarkation was thus retarded so long that the 
rear-guard was attacked by the enemy^ and, 
after an obstinate conflict, compelled to sur- 
render. 

The total loss of the Americans in this aff"air 
was one hundred and sixty-two. That of the 
British in killed and wounded could not be ob- 
tained, but the number of prisoners brought off 
by Sullivan amounted to one hundred and forty- 
one, including eleven ofiicers. 



1777.] BATTLE OF BRANBYWINE. 185 

Sullivan had scarcely regained his camp when 
he received orders to join the main army. 
Having landed at the head of Chesapeake Bay, 
Howe was now marching rapidly toward Phila- 
delphia. Advancing to Wilmington, Washing- 
ton summoned the militia to his aid ; but with 
all the reinforcements he received, the enemy 
was still superior, even in numbers. 

At length, on the 11th of September, having 
retired behind the Brandywine, the American 
general there awaited the British army, sixteen 
thousand strong. His own effective force was 
but little more than eleven thousand men, many 
of whom were militia. In the battle that pre- 
sently ensued, the Am^ericans unfortunately met 
with defeat. Nine days afterward Wayne was 
surprised at Paoli ; and on the twenty-sixth of 
September, Lord Cornwallis, at the head of the 
British and Hessian grenadiers, entered Phila- 
delphia in triumph. 

Meanwhile, retaliating Sullivan's attack on 
Staten Island, Sir Henry Clinton sallied out of 
New York with three thousand troops, and overran 
a considerable portion of the eastern section of 
New Jersey. Finding that the militia were as- 
sembling, and threatened by a detachment of 
continentals, he at length returned to New York, 
having caused much annoyance and alarm, and 
plundered the inhabitants of their most valuable 

16* 



186 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1777. 

live stock, with a loss of but eight men killed 
and sixteen wounded. 

After the fall of Philadelphia, Washington 
encamped near the Schuylkill, about fourteen 
miles from German town, where the bulk of the 
British army was stationed. Here he awaited 
reinforcements. Dickinson and Livingston were 
busily engaged in arousing the New Jersey mi- 
litia. Having by his untiring exertions collected 
a force of nine hundred men, Dickinson was 
about to join the main army when he received 
intelligence of another threatened invasion from 
New York. Proceeding himself, with three hun- 
dred men, toward Elizabethtown, he directed the 
remainder, under General Forman, to cross the 
Delaware, and join Washington's camp. 

Havino; received this and other additions to 
his force, Washington planned an attack on the 
British at Germantown. An attempt to execute 
this plan on the morning of the fourth of October, 
though begun with the brightest prospects of 
success, terminated in the most disastrous failure, 
with a loss on the part of the Americans of more 
than a thousand men. 

As if to dispel the gloom occasioned by the 
defeat of Washington at Germantown, the most 
cheering intelligence presently arrived from the 
northern army. 

Following up the capture of Ticonderoga, 
Burgoyne had moved on, gaining triumph after 



1777.] SUCCESSES AT THE NORTH. 187 

triumph. Stark's success over Baum at Ben- 
nington, was the turning point in his career of 
victory. Its effect in reviving the drooping spirits 
of the Americans was truly magical. Rally- 
ing under the standard of Gates, they closed in 
from all sides upon the unfortunate Burgoyne. 
After the two battles of Behmus's Heights — the 
first resulting doubtfully, but the second in a de- 
cided American triumph — the British general 
endeavoured to effect his retreat to Fort Edward. 
His communications with that place being cut 
off, his provisions and supplies intercepted, 
and his fast-thinning army effectually hemmed 
in by a superior force, Burgoyne was compelled 
to surrender his whole army to Gates, on the 17th 
of October. 

Meanwhile, after the battle of Germantown, 
Washington had retired to his old encampment 
on the Skippack. Though Philadelphia was lost, 
the Americans were yet in possession of the 
river below. They had fortified it with great 
pains. Howe's fleet was already in the lower 
Delaware, but safe communication with it from 
Philadelphia was next to an impossibility. The 
attention of both commanders was therefore 
almost wholly bestowed upon the Delaware ; that 
of Howe to remove, and of Washington to 
maintain intact, the obstructions to its navi- 
gation. 

The fleet having at length, with great difficulty, 



188 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1777. 

reached Byllingsport, twelve miles below Camden, 
and captured the unfinished American works at 
that point, Howe concentrated his forces in the 
immediate neighbourhood of Philadelphia, pre- 
paratory to a vigorous assault on the remaining 
defences of the Delaware. 

On a low island of mud and sand, just below 
the mouth of the Schuylkill, stood Fort Mifflin, 
held by Colonel Smith of the Maryland line. 
Opposite, on the Jersey shore, were the fortifica- 
tions of Red Bank, consisting of extensive outer 
works, within which was a boarded intrenchment, 
eight or nine feet high, protected by an abattis, 
and well provided with heavy artillery. Two 
Rhode Island regiments, under Greene, com- 
posed the garrison. In the channel between the 
two forts, large timbers, chained firmly together, 
and with iron-pointed projecting beams, had been 
sunk to obstruct the passage of the enemy's 
ships. There were, besides, in the river several 
small continental vessels, and a gun-boat battery 
belonging to Pennsylvania, all of which were 
under the direction of the brave and gallant 
Commodore Hazelwood. For the British fleet 
to reach Philadelphia, it was necessary to re- 
move these obstacles. Hoping that, if they 
could maintain their ground, Howe would be 
compelled to evacuate that city, the Americans 
prepared for a desperate and determined re- 
sistance. 



i 



1777.] KEPULSE OF DONOP. 189 

On the 21st of October, Count Donop, a dis- 
tinguished German officer, with twelve hundred 
picked men, crossed the Delaware at Cooper's 
Eerry, intending on the following day to attack 
the post at Red Bank. During the morning of 
the 22d he marched down the Jersey side and 
made ready to storm the works. Meanwhile, in 
accordance with the plan of a combined attack, 
several British war vessels ascended the river as 
far as the obstructions would allow, and opened 
a furious and incessant cannonade upon Hazel- 
wood's flotilla and Fort Mifflin. 

Late in the evening Donop drew up his column 
preparatory to a desperate assault upon the main 
intrenchment of the Americans, into which, 
abandoning their outer works, they had with- 
drawn, in number about five hundred, on the first 
approach of the British. At length, led by 
their gallant colonel, the enemy rushed with 
great intrepidity to the attack. They were met 
by a deadly discharge of grapeshot and musket- 
balls. Fighting bravely they continued their 
assault until, involved in darkness and fatigued 
by their unavailing efi*orts, they were obliged to 
fall back in disorder, with a loss of nearly four 
hundred in killed and wounded. Early in the 
engagement Donop had fallen mortally hurt at 
the head of his column. Favoured by the night, 
the next officer in command, having collected 
many of the wounded, made good his retreat to 



190 HISTOEY OF NEW JERSEY. [1777. 

Philadelphia, where he arrived early in the fol- 
lowing morning. During this spirited action, 
the first as yet in which they had repelled an as- 
sault, the Americans lost in all but thirty-six 
men. 

Equal ill success had attended the naval at- 
tack upon Fort Mifilin. One of the ships en- 
gaged in it was blown up ; another, having got 
aground, was set on fire and abandoned ; and the 
remainder were compelled to drop down the river 
with serious injury. 

Five or six days subsequent to this event, the 
second legislature of New Jersey convened in 
primary session. Meeting in joint assembly, 
on the first of November, they re-elected Li- 
vingston as governor without a dissenting voice. 

About the same time General Dickinson, 
having collected nearly two thousand of the 
militia, determined upon another attempt to cut 
off the loyalist brigade on Staten Island. But, 
though he observed the utmost secrecy, the enemy 
by some means became apprized of his design, 
and saved themselves by withdrawing into works 
too strong to be carried by assault. After a 
skirmish with the flying troops, in which three 
of his men were killed and ten wounded, Dick- 
inson wisely retired from the island. The loss 
of the loyalists was trifling, and consisted mainly 
of the few prisoners brought ofi" by the Ame- 
ricans. 



1777.] FORT MIFFLIN EVACUATED. 191 

Flattering expectations were created by the 
gallant defence of Red Bank, that it would be 
possible to keep possession of the river. In 
the exultation of the moment, Congress voted a 
sword to each of the three commanders on that 
occasion. Meantime strenuous endeavours were 
made to relieve and reinforce the two forts, 
against which, after a brief intermission, the 
British had renewed active operations. Concen- 
trating their efforts against Fort Mifflin, they 
erected several batteries on a neighbouring 
island, from which they kept up a furious and 
unceasing cannonade. Toiling by night to re- 
pair the breaches made during the day, the be- 
leaguered garrison fought bravely, but without 
avail. At length the fort was declared untena- 
ble, but not until the vessels of the enemy were 
so close that the fire of their marines swept the 
platform. Under these circumstances an evacu- 
ation was deemed advisable. Accordingly, about 
midnight on the 16th of November, the garrison 
was safely withdrawn. 

Hopes were yet entertained of holding the 
fort at Red Bank, but upon the approach of 
Cornwallis from Philadelphia with five thousand 
troops, it, too, was abandoned. Taking posses- 
sion of the evacuated posts, and removing the 
remainder of the obstructions, the British fleet 
and army were at length able to communicate. 

Having collected a considerable quantity of 



192 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1777. 

fresh provisions, Cornwallis pitched his camp on 
Gloucester Point. While he was yet at this 
place a brilliant little action was performed, in 
conjunction with an equal number of Morgan's 
riflemen, by about one hundred and fifty New 
Jersey militia, under the command of Lafayette. 
Falling upon a picket-guard of the enemy nearly 
three hundred strong, they put them to precipi- 
tate flight, and drove them completely into the 
camp, killing between twenty and thirty, and 
wounding a much greater number. ^' I found 
the riflemen," wrote Lafayette to Washington 
on this occasion, ''even above their reputation, 
and the militia above all expectation I could 
have formed of them." 

The campaign of 1777 was now over. After 
having narrowly escaped a surprise by the British, 
Washington, on the 12th of December, went into 
winter quarters at Valley Forge, a high and 
strong piece of ground on the left bank of the 
Schuylkill, some twenty miles above Philadelphia. 



1777.] SUFFERINGS OF THE ARMY. 193 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Distress of the American prisoners in New York — Sufferings 
of the army — Measures taken by the state for their reUef — 
Articles of confederation brought before the legislature of 
New Jersey — Alliance between France and the United Co- 
lonies — Objections of the legislature to the Articles of Con- 
federation — British foraging party under Mawhood enters 
Salem county — Conflict at Quinton's Bridge — Gallant ex- 
ploit of Andrew Bacon — British forces a second time re- 
pulsed at Quinton's Bridge — Americans massacred at Han- 
cock's Bridge — Correspondence between Mawhood and 
Colonel Hand — British return to Philadelphia — Expedition 
against Bordentown — Narrow escape of Lafayette at Barren 
Hill — Clinton ordered to evacuate Philadelphia — He retreats 
across the Jerseys — Washington starts in pursuit — Battle 
of Monmouth Court House — Lee's conduct during the 
action censured — He is arrested, tried, suspended, and finally 
dismissed from the service. 

Meanwhile the legislature of New Jersey re- 
mained in session, devising means to meet va- 
rious demands that were now made upon them. 
The most pressing of these demands related to 
the condition of the American army at Valley 
Forge, and to the wants of that class of suffer- 
ing citizens whom the enemy had carried off and 
confined in the prisons of New York. 

With regard to the condition of the army, it 
was deplorable. Frequently, during their en- 
campment, the soldiers were destitute of meat, 

17 



194 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1778. 

while vegetables and other articles requisite 
for their health, were procured with difficulty. 
Nor were their sufferings less from want of 
clothing. On the first of February, 1778, nearly 
four thousand men were reported unfit for duty 
on that account alone. " A man of sensibility," 
said Livingston to the legislature, "cannot but 
feel for these brave men, fighting for their 
country, at this inclement season, many of them 
without shoes, stockings, warm clothing, and 
even blankets to lie upon." 

Steps were immediately taken by the assembly 
to meet these emergencies, so far, at least, as it 
was possible for a single state to move in the 
matter. For the relief of the prisoners at New 
York, Abraham Van Neste was appointed a 
special commissioner, with authority and means 
to provide them with such necessaries as they 
most needed ; while, to supply the wants of the 
suffering army, bills were passed to raise a sum 
of money by taxation, and by leasing the real 
estate of such persons as had left the state and 
joined the enemy. 

In order to successfully continue the contest 
in which they were engaged. Congress had 
already, on the 15th of November, 1777, adopted 
certain <' Articles of Confederation," creating a 
more perfect union between the thirteen states, 
under the style and title of the <' United States of 
America. ' ' To render these articles binding, it was 



1778.] ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE. 195 

necessary that they should be first sanctioned by 
the several states. Brought before the New 
Jersey legislature, the question of agreeing to 
them was yet pending, when Grovernor Livings- 
ton, on the 27th of May, communicated to the 
two houses intelligence of the most cheering 
character. 

From the beginning of the war, an alliance 
with France had been sought after, but with ill 
success, by the American commissioners at Paris. 
Moved, in part, by the tenacity of purpose ex- 
hibited by the revolted colonies, and still more 
by the probability of Parliament's sanctioning 
certain conciliatory bills in which the right to 
tax America was virtually relinquished, Ver- 
gennes, the French minister, finally concluded 
with the commissioners of Congress, two treaties, 
one of defensive alliance, and the other of friend- 
ship and commerce. 

It was the intelligence of this alliance that 
Livingston introduced to the assembly, exhort- 
ing them to make "but one more spirited and 
general efi'ort" to "emancipate themselves into 
complete and uninterrupted liberty." Inspiriting 
as it was to them, it was no less so to the country 
at large, entirely neutralizing whatever eifect 
had been expected from the conciliatory bills, 
and rendering still more determined the re- 
solution of the Americans to be free and in- 
dependent. 



196 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1778. 

At length, on the 15th of June, a committee 
from both houses of the New Jersey legislature, 
having been previously appointed for that pur- 
pose, made a full and able report in regard to 
the new ''Articles of Confederation." Several 
amendments were proposed to the congressional 
plan of union, the most important of which were 
to prohibit a standing army in time of peace ; to 
invest Congress with the sole and exclusive power 
of regulating the trade Avith foreign countries ; 
and to authorize that body to dispose of vacant 
and unpatented lands, for defraying the expenses 
of the war, and for other such public and general 
purposes. This report having been adopted, and 
a copy of it forwarded to Congress, the question 
was for a time suffered to remain at rest. 

Meanwhile, as the spring opened, the enemy 
began to show signs of life. Pressed for pro- 
visions, Clinton, now in command at Philadel- 
phia, found it necessary to send out strong forag- 
ing parties into the surrounding country, which 
suffered extremely from the extent and wanton- 
ness of their devastations. 

On the 17th of March, a British detachment, 
some twelve hundred strong, under the command 
of Colonel Maw^hood and Majors Simcoe and 
Sims, having landed at Byllingsport, made a 
rapid march to Salem, in the expectation of sur- 
prising Colonel Wayne, who, with a few Ame- 
rican troops, was posted at that place. Unsuc- 



1778.] CONFLICT AT QUINTON'S BRIDGE. 197 

cessful in this, Mawhood, at daybreak of the 
18th, despatched Simcoe to cut off a small party 
of the militia under Colonel Holmes, "who were 
intrenched at Quinton's Bridge, on the southern 
shore of Alloway's Creek, about three miles 
from Salem. By a successful stratagem, Simcoe 
drew the militia from their works across the 
bridge, and into an ambuscade. A fierce con- 
flict ensued. Surprised and outnumbered, and 
with a loss of forty men, the Americans re- 
treated to their intrenchments, bravely contest- 
ing every foot of the way. As their rear left 
the bridge, one of the most courageous of the 
party, Andrew Bacon by name, seized an axe, 
and heedless of the storm of balls that whistled 
around him, resolutely cut away the draw, thus 
rendering immediate pursuit by the enemy im- 
possible. Scarcely was this gallant action per- 
formed, when the hero of it received a wound by 
which he was crippled for life. In the mean time, 
Colonel Hand, with a reinforcement of militia, 
had arrived on the ground, and now opening 
upon the enemy a heavy fire from two pieces of 
artillery, he compelled them to fall back upon 
the main body at Salem. 

Chagrined on account of Simcoe's ultimate 
failure, Mawhood determined to pass the bridge 
at all hazards. Accordingly, early in the fol- 
lowing day, he attacked it with his whole force. 
But cheered by their late success, and so posted 

17* 



198 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1778. 

that both flanks as well as the front of the at- 
tacking column, were exposed to their fire, the 
Americans obstinately stood their ground, and 
Mawhood, after a desperate attempt to gain his 
point, was obliged to retreat in considerable 
disorder. 

Late in the evening of the next day, a party 
of Tories a,nd regular troops, under the conduct 
of Simcoe, was despatched to surprise a small 
body of Americans stationed at Hancock's 
Bridge, about two miles below Quinton's. The 
success of this expedition was complete and san- 
guinary. Wearied out, and unsuspicious of 
danger, the Americans were sound asleep. A 
few only woke in time to escape. The remainder, 
between twenty and thirty in number, some yet 
asleep, others half aroused, and none offering 
resistance, were bayoneted in cold blood. 

But a few hours after this massacre, Mawhood 
addressed a note to Hand, now in command at 
Quinton's Bridge, summoning him to lay down 
his arms and surrender. In case of refusal, he 
threatened to arm the Tories, and to "attack all 
the militia wearing arms, burn their houses, and 
reduce them, their unfortunate wives, and their 
children to beggary and distress." 

"Your proposal," was the American colonel's 
spirited reply, " we absolutely reject. We have 
taken up arms to maintain our rights, and we 
will not lay them down until success has crowned 



1778.] EXPEDITION TO BORDENTOWN. 199 

them, or we have met an honourable death. 
Your plan of arming the Tories we have no ob- 
jection to, for it will fill our arsenals with arms. 
Your threat to burn and destroy, induces me to 
imagine that I am reading the orders of a barba- 
rous Attila, and not of a gentleman, brave, ge- 
nerous, and polished. If executed, it can only 
render our people desperate, and increase your 
foes and the American army." 

Not choosing to risk another engagement, 
Mawhood now turned his whole attention to 
plundering the neighbouring farmers. Having 
thus collected an immense store of hay, grain, 
cattle, horses, and other articles, he soon after 
embarked in his transports, and returned without 
molestation to Philadelphia. 

Early in May, seven hundred British troops 
were sent up the Delaware. Landing at White 
Hill, just below Bordentown, they burned a con- 
siderable number of vessels, including two un- 
finished continental frigates, which had been con- 
veyed to that place for safety. After remaining 
a few hours in Bordentown, during which time 
they destroyed no little property, and murdered 
four unresisting prisoners, the British, having 
collected their plunder, re-embarked, intending 
to proceed against Trenton. But meeting with 
unexpected opposition from the militia, they re- 
turned hastily down the river to Philadelphia. 

While these events were transpiring. Wash- 



200 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1778. 

ington was still encamped at Valley Forge, wait- 
ing the arrival of the French fleet, which was 
already on its way to America. Aware of this, 
Clinton, fearing that the Delaware might be 
blockaded, meditated an evacuation of Phila- 
delphia. Rumours of such an intention having 
reached the American camp, Washington de- 
tached Lafayette, with two thousand chosen 
troops, to gain intelligence, and to annoy the 
rear of Clinton, should he put his rumoured de- 
sign into effect. Lafayette having taken a mo- 
mentary position at Barren Hill, some ten miles 
in advance of the main army, the British com- 
mander, observing his isolated situation, sent a 
much stronger force to cut him off. But, dis- 
covering his peril, the young and gallant French- 
man, by a well-timed and dexterous movement, 
gained a position which the surprise party would 
not venture to assail. 

At length the intention of Clinton to abandon 
Philadelphia and retreat through the Jerseys to 
New York, became evident. Washington's plans 
were soon laid. While Maxwell, with the New 
Jersey brigade, having united with the militia 
under Dickinson, was engaged in breaking down 
bridges and felling trees across the roads to im- 
pede the progress of the enemy, the commander- 
in-chief himself prepared to lead the main army 
in pursuit, when they should take up their line 
of march. 



1778.] RETREAT OF CLINTON. 201 

Having sent part of his baggage and stores, 
together with many loyalist non-combatants, by 
sea to New York, Clinton left Philadelphia on 
the 18th of June, and, with ten thousand well- 
appointed troops, commenced his retreat across 
the Jerseys. The weather was hot and rainy. 
Harassed in front by Dickinson and Maxwell, 
and incumbered with a long line of provision 
and baggage wagons, the enemy moved slowly, 
spending six days in reaching Imlaystown, four- 
teen miles south-east of Trenton. 

Meanwhile Washington was not idle. Cross- 
ing the Delaware at Corryell's Ferry, now Lam- 
bertville, he immediately detached Colonel Mor- 
gan, with a select corps of six hundred men, to 
reinforce Maxwell, and marched himself, with 
the main body, toward Princeton. Doubtful as 
to the road Clinton would follow, he halted at 
Hopewell, five miles from Princeton, for the 
threefold purpose of resting his troops, securing 
his choice of a position, and of ascertaining 
what course the enemy would take. 

Washington's earnest desire was to give the 
enemy battle ; and his men, though reduced by 
sickness and privation, badly equipped, and 
barely outnumbering the British, w^ere equally 
eager for the contest. But two councils of war, 
in which the wishes of the chief were seconded 
by Lafayette, Greene, Wayne, and Cadwallader 
only out of fourteen general officers, decid- 



202 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1778. 

ed it advisable that nothing more should be 
attempted than to harass the progress of the 
enemy. At the head of those opposed to Wash- 
ington's plan, was Lee, whose exchange had been 
recently effected, and who held the second rank 
in the continental service. Taking a wide view 
of the circumstances, Washington resolved, how- 
ever, upon his own responsibility, to take such 
measures as might induce a general engage- 
ment. 

On the 24th of June, Maxwell was further re- 
inforced ; and, during the following day, the 
main army advanced to Kingston. Here certain 
intelligence was received of Clinton's design to 
march by way of Monmouth Court House to 
Sandy Hook. One thousand additional troops 
were immediately sent forward to join those al- 
ready hanging upon the British rear. As Lee, 
upon whom the command of this division by 
right devolved, declined accepting it, Washing- 
ton intrusted it to Lafayette, ordering him to 
press upon Clinton's left, and crowd him down 
into the low grounds. 

The same evening the main body moved on to 
Cranberry. A heavy rain-storm and excessive 
heat delayed its march on the 26th, but that night 
the advanced corps rested within five miles of 
the British rear. 

Clinton having now brought his best troops to 
the rear, Washington determined to reinforce 



1778.] RETREAT OF LEE. 203 

still farther his leading column. Accordingly, 
on the 27th, Lee was sent forward with two 
brigades. He, of course, took command of the 
whole advanced division, now swelled to about 
five thousand men. That evening the commander- 
in-chief encamped within three miles of English- 
town, where Lee was resting with the advance. 

Clinton at the same time took a strong po- 
sition on the high grounds in the vicinity of 
Monmouth Court House, or Freehold ; his right 
resting in the borders of a small wood, while a 
dense and somewhat extensive forest sheltered 
his left. Another wood protected his entire 
front. Twelve miles distant were the Heights 
of Middletown, which he was anxious to gain ; 
for if he could once reach them, he knew that he 
would be unassailable. 

In the gray of Sunday morning, the 28th of 
June, Washington received information that the 
enemy were marching off toward Middleton 
Heights. Anticipating this, he had ordered the 
advance to be ready to move at a moment's no- 
tice. Promising to support him with the whole 
army, he directed Lee to assault the British 
rear, ''unless there should be powerful reasons 
to the contrary." Lee at once pushed on to 
obey; but, confused by contradictory intelli- 
gence, it was ten o'clock before he came up with 
the enemy. Received by a galling fire, his 
troops, after a series of disastrous manoeuvres, 



204 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1778. 

fell back, and no steps being taken to check this 
retrograde movement, the whole division was 
soon in full retreat. 

Washington was, in the mean time, hurrying 
up with the main army. About noon, after a 
march of five miles, he met the broken regiments 
of the advance. His indignation was extreme. 
Riding to the rear, he encountered Lee. Ab- 
ruptly, and in a tone of stern reproach, he asked 
the meaning of the confusion and retreat he be- 
held. Lee replied with haughtiness ; when, ut- 
tering a sharp reprimand, Washington rode dis- 
dainfully by, rallied the flying troops, placed 
them in line, ordered Lee to take command, and 
hurried back to form and bring up the main 
division. 

The aspect of affairs was now changed. Though 
furiously attacked by the enemy, Lee maintained 
his ground until the second American line was 
formed, when he effected an orderly retreat, 
Washington's second line was next assailed ; but, 
as the British crossed a morass in front, Stir- 
ling's artillery, opening from the left, and aided 
by several infantry corps, effectually checked 
their advance in that direction. Repulsed at 
this point, the enemy turned upon Greene, who 
commanded the right wing ; but here again they 
were met by artillery, the fire from which swept 
their files, and a second time brought them to a 
stand. At this juncture Wayne came up with a 



1778.] DESERTION OF HESSIANS. 205 

body of infantry, attacked the assailants in front, 
and drove them back to the position they had 
occupied in the morning. 

The day was now far advanced. Both armies 
were utterly exhausted. During the contest the 
heat had been excessive; so much so, indeed, 
that numbers of the combatants on both sides 
had fallen upon the field dead, without a wound. 
Washington, however, determined to renew the 
fight at once, and become the assailant in turn. 
But before his plans could be perfectly arranged, 
the night came on, and further operations were 
postponed until the next day. The whole army 
laid upon their arms on the field of battle, ready 
to make a new effort for the victory they had so 
nearly won. But when the morning dawned, 
Clinton was many miles upon his way to the 
Highlands of Nevisink. Pursuit was vain. 
Thus ended what narrowly missed being one of 
the most momentous battles of the War of In- 
dependence. 

Upon the field the enemy left four oflBcers and 
two hundred and forty-five privates dead, and 
their total loss in killed and wounded could not 
have been less than four hundred. That of the 
Americans was three hundred and thirty-two, of 
which seventy were killed outright. Indepen- 
cfently, however, of their loss in the action, the 
British were materially weakened during their re- 
treat, when full a thousand of their number, prin- 

18 



206 HISTORY OF XEW JERSEY. [1778. 

cipally Hessians, who had married in Philadel- 
phia, took occasion to desert. 

Clinton safely reached the Highlands of 
Middletown, whence, in a few days, he marched 
to Sandy Hook. From his position at this place, 
he found a speedy passage to New York in the 
fleet of Admiral Howe, who had just arrived 
from Philadelphia with the stores and baggage, 
narrowly escaping the French squadron, under 
D'Estaing, which appeared oif the Delaware a 
few days later. 

Lee's conduct during the recent action was 
severely condemned ; more so, perhaps, than it 
justly deserved. Though the indecisive charac- 
ter of the battle was properly to be attributed 
to his retreat, Washington would probably have 
overlooked the whole affair ; but the pride of 
Lee had been wounded by the public rebuke of 
his chief, and the day after the action he wrote 
Washington a highly disrespectful letter. Wash- 
ington's reply elicited a second letter, still more 
arrogant in its tone. Lee was presently arrested 
and tried by a court-martial, for disobedience of 
orders, for making an unnecessary, disorderly, 
and shameful retreat, and for writing two disre- 
spectful letters to the commander-in-chief. He 
defended himself with remarkable ability: but 
the court, acquitting him of having made %> 
<' shameful" retreat, found a verdict of guilty as 
to the remaining charges, and sentenced him to 



1779.] ARRIVAL OF FRENCH FLEET. 207 

be suspended for a year. Scarcely had tlie term 
of his suspension expired, when Lee addressed 
an insolent letter to Congress. For this he pre- 
sently apologized, but Congress at once dismissed 
him from the service. 



CHAPTER XVil. 

D'Estaing arrives with a French fleet — Sullivan's unsuccessful 
attempt against Newport — Massacre of Baylor's cavalry re- 
giment near Tappan — British expedition against Little Egg 
Harbour — Chestnut Neck burned — Pulaski's legion sur- 
prised in the vicinity of Tuckerton — New legislature elected 
■ — Livingston re-chosen governor — Articles of confederation 
approved — French fleet sails for the West Indies — Campaign 
of 1779 — Difficulty with the Jersey brigade — Capture of 
Stony Point by the British — •Recaptured by Wayne — Major 
Lee surprises the English garrison at Paulus Hook — Sulli- 
van's expedition against the Indians of New York — Fierce 
partisan contest in New Jersey — Operations in the south — 
Financial difficulties of Congress — New Jersey legislature 
orders nine millions of dollars to be raised — Distress of the 
American array at Morristovvn — Washington's requisition 
upon New Jersey for supplies — Unsuccessful attack upon 
Staten Island. 

Soon after the battle of Monmouth, Washing- 
ton crossed the Hudson and encamped at White 
Plains. Learning that D'Estaing had arrived 
with a fleet and four thousand troops, he con- 
certed with him an attack upon New York. 
Forced to abandon this enterprise, Washington 



208 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1779. 

directed his attention toward Newport, where 
Pigot, with a large body of the enemy, was now 
stationed. Having collected New England mi- 
litia and continentals to the number of ten 
thousand, Sullivan, to whom the attack upon 
Newport was confided, only waited for the co- 
operation of D'Estaing. But as the French 
admiral, who had put to sea in hopes of meeting 
the British squadron, was about to engage with 
Howe, a fierce tempest sprung up, separated the 
contending fleets, and drove that of France, 
badly damaged, into Boston. In the mean time, 
Sullivan had advanced to within a short distance 
of Newport. Here he received intelligence of 
D'Estaing's ill-fortune, and was compelled, much 
to his mortification, to abandon his works and 
retreat to the main land. 

Nearly a month later, in September, two 
columns of the enemy, conjointly eight thousand 
strong, left New York and ascended the Hudson 
by either bank, with the twofold design of col- 
lecting forage, and of diverting attention from a 
proposed expedition against Little Egg Harbour. 
On the night of the 27th, the advanced corps 
of the western column, commanded by Major- 
General Grey, moving with silent celerity, suc- 
ceeded in surprising a party of American light- 
horse, under Lieutenant-Colonel Baylor, who 
were sleeping soundly in a barn near Tappan, in 
the county of Bergen. So suddenly and unex- 



1778.] MASSACRE OF TROOPS. 209 

pectedlj did the British appear, that Baylor's 
men were unable either to fly or to resist. They 
supplicated for quarter ; but were bayoneted 
almost without mercy. Out of one hundred and 
four privates thirty-seven only escaped. Of 
the remainder, twenty-seven were killed and 
wounded ; among the latter of whom was Baylor 
himself. By the humanity of one of Grey's 
captains, forty were made prisoners, in disobe- 
dience to previous orders to allow no quarter. 
This massacre, as it was called, stirred up a feel- 
ing of fierce indignation against the British, 
who, however, apologized for it, by pleading the 
excitement of a surprise and a night attack. 

In the mean time, the southern expedition 
having landed at Little Egg Harbour, on the 
5th of October, destroyed thirty prize vessels 
lying in port, burned the village of Chestnut 
Neck, and ravaged all the surrounding country. 
To check this movement, Pulaski's legion had 
been ordered into the neighbourhood ; but it did 
not arrive until three days after the landing of 
the British. While encamped in the vicinity of 
Tuckerton, Pulaski's picket guard was surprised 
through the treachery of a deserter, and every 
man composing it — thirty in all — put to death. 
Gathering up his cavalry, the fiery Pole started 
in pursuit of the enemy, who had immediately 
begun a hasty retreat, but was unable to over- 
take them. So closely did he push them, how- 
ls* 



210 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1778. 

ever, that the only sloop of war in the expedi- 
tion having got aground, was obliged to be set 
on fire and abandoned, to prevent it from falling 
into the hands of the Americans. 

On the 27th of October, a new legislature met 
at Trenton. Having again chosen Livingston 
governor, both houses, in committee of the whole, 
proceeded to a renewed consideration of the 
^'Articles of Confederation," to which Congress 
had once more urged their attention. The sub- 
ject was earnestly discussed for nearly a fort- 
night. Declaring that " every separate state 
interest ought to be postponed for the public 
good," the committee rose, and, by their advice, 
the delegates of New Jersey in Congress were 
immediately instructed to subscribe to the new 
plan of union. At the same time the committee, 
in their report, maintained that «'the objections 
lately stated and sent to Congress were found- 
ed in justice and equity," and were of the 
''most essential moment to the interests" of 
their constituents. For the removal of these 
objections, they still relied firmly upon the 
"candour and justice of the several states." 

This subject having been thus quietly disposed 
of, a bill was presently passed to raise the sum 
of one hundred thousand pounds ; after which 
the legislature took a recess. 

The campaign in the north was now, in effect, 
at an end.* D'Estaing, with the French squad- 



1778.] MOVExMENTS IN THE SOUTH. 211 

ron, left Boston for the West Indies on the 3d 
of November. Upon the same day, five thou- 
sand British troops, escorted by a formidable 
fleet, sailed from New York with a like destina- 
tion. Toward the close of the month, a second 
British detachment, three thousand five hundred 
strong, was sent from New York to act against 
Georgia. Having formed a junction with the 
forces of the governor of Florida, they cap- 
tured Savannah, and in a brief period overran 
the whole state. 

Meanwhile, finding that a successful attack 
upon New York, even with its greatly reduced 
garrison, would be utterly impossible, Washing- 
ton went into winter quarters at Middlebrook, 
hutting his troops in a line of cantonments, 
reaching from Danbury in Connecticut, across 
the Hudson at West Point, to Elizabethtown, 
New Jersey. 

Already with a strong foothold in the south- 
ern states, the British, retaining the islands 
about New York, were henceforth to exhibit their 
more active and important efforts in the south. 
Yet the force under Clinton at New York and 
Newport, was still not less than sixteen thousand 
men, able at any moment, with the assistance 
of a powerful fleet, to concentrate at either 
point. Scarcely equal to the enemy in number, 
the troops under Washington could not be 
readily brought to bear, with any prospect of 



212 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY [1779. 

success, either upon Newport or New York. In 
1779, consequently, the war, not yet fully open- 
ed at the south, in the north consisted chiefly 
of a series of skirmishes. 

Early in the year, however, an expedition was 
planned against the Six Nations, whose recent at- 
tacks upon the border settlements of New York and 
Pennsylvania called for prompt and severe re- 
taliation. The force to be sent into the Indian 
country, with orders to burn and devastate their 
villages and cornfields, consisted of five thousand 
men, under the general directions of Sullivan. 

While this army was being concentrated, pre- 
paratory to its final march, alarming symptoms 
of discontent appeared in Maxwell's New Jersey 
brigade, which formed a considerable part of 
the proposed expedition. For more than a year 
these troops had been vainly memorializing the 
legislature with regard to their extremely neces- 
sitous condition. In April, 1779, Maxwell ad- 
dressed two highly caustic letters to the assembly 
on the subject ; and, soon afterward, wearied 
out with delay, the officers of one of the regi- 
ments, in a brief but pithy memorial, called upon 
the legislature for immediate relief. \Yearing 
the appearance of a threat, this memorial placed 
the legislature in a disagreeable quandary, from 
which it seemed scarcely possible that they 
could extricate themselves without sacrificing 
either their dignity or a number of their best 



1779.] SURPRISE OF STONY POINT. 213 

officers. But both were saved by a compromise. 
Promised that their wants should be immediately 
supplied, the complainants withdrew their me- 
morial, and the legislature presently voted, and 
paid at once, the sum of two hundred pounds to 
each officer, and forty dollars to each private. 

Preparations for the Indian expedition now 
went on. On the 22d of August, the whole 
army was concentrated where the town of 
Athens, in Pennsylvania, now stands. 

Meanwhile, having ascended the Hudson and 
captured the American works at Verplank's and 
Stony Point, Clinton, early in July, despatched 
a marauding expedition against Connecticut, 
hoping by this means to entice Washington from 
his stronghold in the Highlands. New Haven 
was plundered, and Norwalk, Fairfield, and 
Green Farms wantonly burned. An attack was 
about being made upon New London, when the 
enemy were suddenly recalled by intelligence of 
Wayne's brilliant and successful assault on Stony 
Point, during the night of the 16th of July. 
The British ascending the river in force, Wash- 
ington found it necessary to again abandon the 
recovered post, after dismantling its fortifications 
and removing its artillery and stores. 

Wayne's surprise of Stony Point was present- 
ly followed by an enterprise equally as bold. 
While Lee, with his legionary corps, was watch- 
ing the movements of Clinton on the Hudson, 



214 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1779. 

lie received intelligence that suggested to him 
the possibility of carrying off the British garri- 
son at Paulus Hook, on the Jersey shore, imme- 
diately opposite New York city. The attempt 
was one of great danger, and could only be suc- 
cessful by secrecy and celerity. Lee's plans 
were well laid, however, and he possessed the 
daring to execute them. On the night of the 
18th of August, the assault was made. The 
enemy were taken by complete surprise. New 
York being immediately alarmed, Lee could not 
stop to destroy the works ; but he effected a suc- 
cessful, though hazardous retreat, carrying off 
with him one hundred and fifty of the enemy as 
prisoners. This feat was highly complimented 
by Washington, and reflected much honour upon 
the corps by which it was accomplished. 

At length, on the 26th of August, the Indian 
expedition, under Sullivan, commenced its march 
up the Chemung branch of the Susquehanna. 
On the morning of the 29th, at Conewawa, now 
Elmira, about fifteen hundred Indians and Tories, 
headed by Brant and Butler, were discovered in 
a strong position on a rising ground, the approach 
to which in front was defended by a breast- 
work half a mile long. A brief but spirited 
action ensued. Outflanked by Poor's New 
Hampshire regiment, and vigorously assailed in 
front by Maxwell and Hand, the enemy aban- 



1Y79.] PARTISAN WARFARE. 215 

doned their works and fled precipitately and in 
extreme confusion. 

Laying waste the country in his route, Sullivan 
crossed over to the Gennessee valley, then the cen- 
tre of the Indian settlements. Two weeks were 
spent in desolating this delightful region. Eight- 
teen villages, many thousand bushels of corn, and 
numerous orchards were utterly destroyed. The 
blow was a grievous one to the Indians, many of 
whom never returned to the homes from which 
they were thus expelled. For a brief period 
their activity was wholly prostrated ; but the re- 
collection of the chastisement they had received 
was soon obliterated by a keen desire for ven- 
geance, and they began again their attacks upon 
the frontier settlements. 

While these events were transpiring, New 
Jersey had been the scene of a fearful partisan 
warfare. Marauding bands of Tories from New 
York and Staten Island roamed through the 
eastern counties, plundering, capturing, and 
murdering the unarmed inhabitants ; in some in- 
stances not sparing even the women and children. 
To aggravate the sufferings thus inflicted upon 
the people, parties of freebooters, sallying out 
from their hiding-places in the pines, robbed and 
murdered all that fell into their power, with 
scarcely any regard to the distinctions of Whig 
and Tory. 

But the Americans did not remain idle. Tories 



216 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1779. 

and pine-robbers were alike objects of their san- 
guinary vengeance. Against the organized ex- 
peditions of the former, the militia were prompt 
to rally, frequently beating them in fair fight. 
Many of the prominent freebooters, after having 
made their names a terror, were hunted out, 
captured, and hung in chains. Others were shot 
down like wild beasts, and left unburied where 
they met their death. So fiend-like were the 
atrocities they had committed, that none ex- 
pected and none received mercy. 

In the mean time, Prevost, commander of the 
British troops in Georgia, with about three thou- 
sand regulars and Indians, made an attack upon 
Charleston, in South Carolina. Kepulsed by 
Lincoln, the American general, he returned to 
Savannah, late in June, enriched with a great 
quantity of plunder. 

On the 1st of September, D'Estaing returning 
from a successful cruise in the West Indies, ap- 
peared before Savannah, which he summoned to 
surrender. Presently joined by Lincoln, a formal 
siege was opened, with every prospect of success. 
But a premature assault, on the 9th of October, 
having resulted in the repulse of the allied forces, 
with a loss of nearly nine hundred men, the 
siege was abandoned, and D'Estaing returned 
to the West Indies. 

The intelligence of these events determined 
both commanders upon strengthening their re- 



1779.] REQUISITION POU SUPPLIES. 217 

spective armies in the south. Leaving New- 
York in charge of General Knyphausen, Clinton,. 
late in December, sailed in person for Savannah ; 
while a considerable number of troops isras des- 
patched by Washington in the same direction. 

From a late day in October, the legislature of 
New Jersey had been in session, anxiously deli- 
berating upon the involved condition of the 
finances of the state, and of Congress. In No- 
vember, resolutions were received from Congress, 
recommending the several states to raise their 
respective quota of money, for the purpose of 
redeeming the continental currency, which, in 
spite of every effort to the contrary, had depre- 
ciated almost to worthlessness. In compliance- 
with this recommendation, nine millions of dol- 
lars — estimated according to the value of the 
currency of the period — were ordered to be 
raised in New Jersey, by October of the ensuing 
year. 

For the relief of his army, which was almost 
reduced to a starving condition, Washington, 
from his winter quarters at Morristown, presently 
issued a requisition couched in somewhat harsher 
terms. Each county in the state was called upon 
to furnish the camp with a certain quantity of 
flour and meat. Urging the invincible necessity 
for these supplies, the commander-in-chief stated 
that he would be compelled to use force in ob- 
taining them if they were not furnished volun- 

19 



218 HISTOBY OF NEW JERSEY. [1779. 

tarily. But, greatly to their honour, the state 
authorities took the matter in hand. The requi- 
sition was speedily answered, and the employ- 
ment of force rendered unnecessary. 

Thus relieved from the pressure of immediate 
want, Washington again set on foot an expedi- 
tion against Staten Island, where twelve hun- 
dred British troops were quartered for the winter. 
A passage to the island was now easy, even for 
artillery, over the ice, which the almost unparal- 
leled severity of the season had formed between 
it and the main land. Every arrangement had 
been completed, and Stirling, in command of the 
expedition, was about to leave the shore, when 
intelligence was received that the enemy, rein- 
forced from New York, were fully prepared for 
successful resistance. Consequently, three days 
afterward, on the ITth of January, 1780, Stir- 
ling deemed it advisable to fall back upon the 
main army, which he did, hot unmolested, how- 
ever, by the British cavalry, from the charges 
of which he suffered a slight loss in the early 
part of his retreat. 



1780.] SURRENDER OF CHARLESTON. 219 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Campaign of 1780 — South Carolina invaded and overrun by 
the British — Discontent in Washington's army — Knyphausen 
lands at Elizabethtown Point — Marches toward Springfield 
— Burns the village of Connecticut Farms — Retires to the 
Point — Is joined by Clinton — Patriotism of the Rev. James 
Caldvi^ell — He becomes obnoxious to the Tories — His wife is 
murdered by a refugee, during the attack on Connecticut 
Farms — He is shot by a sentinel at Elizabethtown Point — 
Clinton advances against Springfield — Is met by Greene — 
Springfield burned — Clinton retires to Staten Island — Arri- 
val of Rochambeau — Gloomy opening of the year 1781 — ■ 
Revolt of the Pennsylvania line — Part of the New Jersey 
brigade mutinies — Mutineers shot — Cornwallis in the south 
— Battle of Cowpens — Battle of Guilford Court House — 
Green partially recovers South Carolina — Cornwallis enters 
Virginia — Fortifies himself at Yorktown — Is besieged by the 
allied armies, and the fleet of De Grasse — He capitulates — 
Prospect of peace — Tory outrages in New Jersey — Murder 
of Captain Huddy — Peace. 

The campaign of 1780 opened in the south. 
On the 12th of May, Charleston was surrendered 
to the British forces under Clinton, after the 
garrison had obstinately sustained a vigorous 
siege of more than a month's duration. By the 
middle of June, the whole of South Carolina was 
in the hands of the enemy. Leaving Cornwallis 
in charge of the re-established royal government, 
Clinton returned to New York. 

Meanwhile Washington was struggling to put 



220 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1780. 

the northern troops in a condition to co-operate 
with the French fleet and army, which were ex- 
pected to arrive early in the summer. In per- 
forming this duty, he found many difficulties to 
overcome. Scantily supplied, and poorly paid 
in a depreciated currency, the troops were filled 
with discontent. So alarming, indeed, was the 
spirit of insubordination they exhibited, that, at 
one time, it seemed doubtful whether they could 
be prevented from disbanding. 

Highly coloured statements with regard to the 
tendencies of this discontent were carried into 
New York, and along with them others, greatly 
exaggerating some few complaints of the people 
of New Jersey, occasioned by Washington's late 
requisition. Hoping to win over the dissatisfied 
troops and people to the British standard, Knyp- 
hausen, on the 6th of June, landed five thousand 
men at Elizabethtown Point, and advanced 
through the country toward Springfield. Every- 
where, however, he met evidences that he had 
been deceived. The militia were prompt to take 
up arms against him ; and at Connecticut Farms, 
four miles from Elizabethtown, he was compelled 
to order a halt. Incensed by the unexpected 
opposition they had received, his soldiers fired 
this beautiful little village, which, together with 
its church and parsonage, was reduced to ashes. 
Washington soon after appearing in force, 
Knyphausen fell back to Elizabethtown Point, 



1780.] REV. JAMES CALDWELL. 221 

where he was presently joined by Clinton, with 
six thousand additional troops. 

During the halt of the British at Connecticut 
Farms, an outrage was perpetrated that thrilled 
the entire confederacy with horror and indig- 
nation. 

Prominent among the American patriots was 
the Rev. James Caldwell, pastor of the Presby- 
terian church at Elizabethtown. Of a fiery, en- 
ergetic nature, and an enthusiastic lover of 
liberty, he had, at the opening of the War of 
Independence, ardently espoused the cause of the 
colonies. Elected chaplain of the Jersey bri- 
gade, his zeal and activity won for him the 
esteem and confidence of the commander-in- 
chief, by w^hom he was presently appointed to 
the commissary department. Faithfully per- 
forming his public duties, he did not neglect 
those of his religious mission. A pure Christian, 
an ardent patriot, and a practical philanthropist, 
he soon became a general and well-known fa- 
vourite with the army and the people. 

But the same qualities that gained him the 
love of the Americans, made him a conspicuous 
object of hatred to the enemy. To the Tories, 
especially, he became extremely obnoxious, and 
they offered large rewards for his capture. 
When the village of Connecticut Farms was de- 
stroyed, his church and parsonage were the first 
buildings to which the torch was applied. The 

19* 



222 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1780. 

night previous, Caldwell, hearing of the enemy's 
approach, had proceeded to Washington's quar- 
ters, having first endeavoured in vain to induce 
his wife, a most excellent and exemplary woman, 
to accompany him. Trusting that her sex and 
unprotected condition would save her house from 
pillage and herself from insult, Mrs. Caldwell, 
as the enemy entered the village, retired to her 
room, and there, surrounded by her children, 
and with an infant in her arms, was engaged in 
prayer, when a private of one of the loyalist 
brigades came to the window, and discharged 
his musket into the group. The unfortunate 
mother received the ball in her breast, and in- 
stantly expired. Her lifeless body being carried 
into the open street, the house was then fired. 

Late in the evening Caldwell observed two 
soldiers whispering together. His attention was 
drawn to them by their frequent repetition of 
''Mrs. Caldwell," which were the only words he 
could hear. Foreboding evil, he besought them 
to tell him the worst. It was thus he gained 
the first tidings of the tragic fate of his wife. 

For more than a year subsequent to this 
mournful event, the patriotic minister continued 
to perform his religious and military duties with 
untiring zeal. Late in November, 1781, he was 
cut off in the vigour of manhood, and in the 
midst of his usefulness, by a fatality as sad as 
it was sudden and unexpected. Having gone in 



1780.] MURDER OF CALDWELL. 223 

his carriage to Elizabethtown Point, to meet a 
young lady coming on a visit from New York, 
he was there shot through the heart by a sentinel 
belonging to the state militia. Morgan, the 
sentinel by whom he was killed, was immediately 
arrested and tried. He defended himself upon 
the ground of having done no more than his duty. 
But it being proved in court that he had been 
bribed to the deed by Caldwell's Tory enemies, 
he was convicted of wilful murder and hung. 

Marking his design by a demonstration against 
West Point, Clinton, on the 23d of June, ad- 
vanced toward Springfield with six thousand 
men, intending to make an attempt to carry off 
the American stores at Morristown. At the 
bridge over the Rahway, a small stream covering 
the town, he was met by Greene, with a detach- 
ment of fifteen hundred continentals, mostly of 
the Jersey Brigade, and a few militia. After a 
gallant struggle, overpowered by numbers, the 
Americans.were compelled to retreat, which they 
did, though in good order. Retiring to some 
heights a short distance in the rear. Green took 
up a strong position, which Clinton, discouraged 
by the stern Tesistance he had already en- 
countered, did not venture to assail. Having 
reduced the thriving village of Springfield to 
ashes, he fell back to Elizabethtown Point, and 
thence crossed over to Staten Island. In this 



224 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1781. 

battle the American loss was seventy-two in 
killed and wounded. 

Early in July the expected French fleet, having 
on board six thousand troops under Count de 
Rochambeau, arrived in the harbour of Newport; 
but as both army and fleet were immediately 
blockaded by a superior naval force of the Bri- 
tish, Washington's plan of co-operating with 
them against New York was frustrated. 

This third unsuccessful attempt at co-opera- 
tion with their French allies, the disastrous de- 
feat of Gates in South Carolina, and the treason 
of Benedict Arnold, following each other in 
rapid succession, were extremely disheartening 
to the Americans, and with them the close of the 
year was a period of the deepest gloom and 
anxiety. 

No brighter, but rather a darker prospect 
opened with 1781. Under the severest trials 
the soldiers of the continental army had hitherto 
exhibited no very wide-spread spirit ef insubor- 
dination. But toward the close of December, 
1780, an angry discussion sprung up in the 
Pennsylvania line, quartered near Morristown, 
which finally led to an alarming revolt. With 
their pay greatly in arrears, and suffering se- 
verely from a want of proper food, clothing and 
shelter, the troops grew discontented ; and, al- 
leging that they had enlisted for three years, or 
the war, they demanded to be discharged on the 



1781.] INSUBORDmATION IN THE ARMY. 225 

31st of December, when the three years of their 
enlistment would expire. The truth, however, 
seems to have been, as contended bj the officers, 
that the terms under which the greater portion 
enlisted, were for three years and the war. 
Consequently their demand was refused. 

On the 1st of January, 1781, thirteen hundred 
men paraded under arms, declaring their inten- 
tion to march to Congress, and obtain redress 
for their grievances. While endeavouring to re- 
strain the mutineers, one officer was killed, and 
several wounded. Presenting his pistols as if 
about to fire, Wayne then ordered them to return 
to their duty. Their bayonets were immediately 
at his breast: — "We love you, general," was 
their declaration, " but if you fire you are a 
dead man. We are not going to the enemy. 
Should they approach, we will fight them under 
your orders. But we are resolved to obtain our 
just rights." Under the leadership of a board 
of sergeants, they then marched off to Princeton, 
where Wayne vainly attempted to bring them to 
terms. 

The crisis was a startling one, and as alarm- 
ing to the Americans as it was gratifying to their 
enemies. Informed of the revolt, Clinton des- 
patched his emissaries to the camp of the muti- 
neers, with liberal offers to induce them to enter 
the British service. But these agents were ar- 
rested, handed over to AYayne, and presently 



226 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1781. 

shot as spies. Patriotic as was the feeling which 
in this case guided the insurgents, there were 
yet doubts that it would long endure. 

Entertaining these doubts, Congress wisely 
bent to the storm. As terms of accommodation, 
the mutineers were offered, and presently ac- 
cepted, the discharge of those enlisted for three 
years or the war ; certificates for the deprecia- 
tion of their pay ; the promise of a speedy set- 
tlement of all arrearages ; and an immediate 
supply of certain articles of clothing. They 
then marched to Trenton, where almost the 
whole line w^as discharged, without consulting the 
contracts of enlistment, in regard to which it 
w^as deemed expedient not to be too particular. 
Subsequently, however, these documents were 
examined, when it was ascertained that, of the 
men discharged, the greater portion had engaged 
for the war. 

Scarcely was this difficulty surmounted, when, 
stimulated by the success of the Pennsylvanians, 
a part of the Jersey line, stationed at Pompton, 
rose in arms, and advanced similar claims for re- 
dress of grievances. A committee, previously 
appointed by the State legislature, offered to ex- 
amine into their claims, if the mutineers would 
submit to their officers. Some returned to their 
duty, but most remained under arms, demanding 
to be discharged on their own oaths, as the 
troops engaged in the late revolt had been. 



1781.] MUTINEERS SHOT. 227 

Mortified at the termination of the previous in- 
surrection, Washington determined to crush at 
once a spirit so threatening to the integrity 
of the army. Confiding in the fidelity of the 
eastern troops, he sent from West Point a de- 
tachment, by which the camp of the mutineers 
was secretly and suddenly surrounded. Their 
unconditional submission was then demanded. 
Intimidated by this prompt and energetic move- 
ment, they yielded immediately. By their own 
officers three of the most prominent leaders were 
pointed out. Arrested and tried by a drum-head 
court-martial, they were sentenced to death. 
Mitigating circumstances gained a reprieve for 
one of the number, but the other two were shot 
on the field, by a platoon drafted from their own 
regiment. 

Under such discouraging circumstances, Wash- 
ington prepared for the campaign of 1781. 
With all his endeavours, the 1st of June found 
him with but fourteen thousand men in camp. 
Threatened on all sides by superior numbers, it 
seemed scarcely possible that he could keep the 
field for another season. 

Meanwhile, from an early period in the year, 
an active warfare had been carried on in the 
Carolinas. Having collected a considerable body 
of troops, Greene, the successor of Gates in 
command of the southern American army, pre- 
pared for a vigorous campaign, by despatching 



228 HIST'?RY OF NEW JERSEY. [1781. 

Morgan, with a thousand men, to harass the 
British left and rear, lying west of Broad River, 
in South Carolina. Cornwallis immediately sent 
Tarleton, his favourite cavalry officer, in pursuit. 
Retiring before the enemy, Morgan at length 
took a stand at the Cowpens, where, on the 17th 
of January, a sanguinary battle was fought, ter- 
minating in the defeat of Tarleton, with the loss 
of more than half his troops. Cornwallis now 
turned upon Greene, who, having presently ef- 
fected a junction with the victorious Morgan, for 
more than a month avoided an engagement ; but, 
at length, on the 15th of March, both armies 
joined battle in the vicinity of Guilford Court 
House, North Carolina. Though victorious, 
Cornwallis, too much weakened to reap the fruits 
of his success, fell back upon Wilmington. 
Greene immediately adopted the bold plan of 
retaking South Carolina. Advancing rapidly 
toward Camden, he was met and momentarily 
checked by Lord Rawdon, at Hobkirk's Hill. 
Adhering to his original intention, however, he 
finally forced the British from their outposts into 
the immediate vicinity of Charleston. 

Meanwhile Cornwallis, penetrating Greene's 
design too late to frustrate it, wheeled to the 
northward, and joined the British troops engaged 
in ravaging Virginia. After a series of move- 
ments against Lafayette, who had been sent 
to oppose him, he retired across James River 



1781.] INVESTMENT OF CORNWALLIS. 229 

to Yorktown, where, in obedience to the orders 
of Clinton, who apprehended an attack upon 
New York, he intrenched in a strong position, 
to await further directions. 

"Washington had been actively preparing to 
attack New York, in conjunction with the 
French army under Rochambeau ; but, being 
informed that a fleet might be daily expected 
to arrive from France, he at once conceived 
the plan of a combined naval and military as- 
sault upon the position of Cornwallis. Late in 
August, De Grasse, with the ardently hoped for 
squadron, sailed into 'the Chesapeake. In an in- 
terview between Washington, De Grasse, and 
Rochambeau, the plan of operations was speedily 
arranged. Marching with great rapidity and 
secrecy, the land forces were already at the head 
of Elk, before Clinton could believe that any thing 
more than a feint was intended. By the help 
of the French transports, the allied armies soon 
effected a junction with Lafayette, at Williams- 
burg, whence, in number about sixteen thousand, 
they marched to invest Cornwallis. 

Every arrangement being completed, on the 
night of October the 6th, the besiegers com- 
menced their first parallel. During eleven days 
the attack and defence were both conducted 
with the utmost courage and skill. Cornwallis, 
however, could maintain his position no longer ; 
while his retreat was effectually cut off by De 

20 



230 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1782. 

Grasse. If the Americans were to storm his 
worksj he could not doubt but that they "would 
be successful. To save the unnecessary effusion 
of blood that would attend such an assault, he 
proposed a cessation of hostilities, and terms of 
capitulation having been finally agreed upon, the 
garrison, to the number of seven thousand men, 
surrendered themselves prisoners of war, on the 
19th of October. 

From the day upon which Cornwallis capitu- 
lated, the prospect of a peace, favourable to the 
independence of the confederated states, grew 
every moment brighter. The War of the Revo- 
lution was virtually terminated. In the south, 
however, a spirited partisan contest was main- 
tained for a considerable length of time ; while, 
under the direction of the New York Board of 
Associated Loyalists, numerous bands of Tory 
refugees continued to harass the people of New 
Jersey, by a series of wanton and sanguinary 
outrages. Prominent among; these was the 
murder of Captain Joshua Huddy, a brave and 
enterprising militia officer from the county of 
Monmouth — a deed which, though the perpe- 
trators of it were acquitted by a British court- 
martial, Carleton, the successor of Clinton, re- 
probated in the strongest terms. 

Early in 1782, a resolution was adopted by 
the English House of Commons, denouncing as 
enemies to the king all who should advise or at- 



\ 



1783.] SUSPENSION OF HOSTILITIES. 231 

tempt a further prosecution of war on the conti- 
nent of North America. A change of ministry 
and propositions for negotiation speedily followed, 
and on the 30th of November a provisional 
treaty of peace, to take effect when Great Britain 
and France should conclude an amicable arrange- 
ment, was signed by the English and American 
commissioners at Paris. On the 20th of Janu- 
ary, 1783, preliminary treaties between Great 
Britain, France, and Spain, were agreed to. 
Peace being thus ensured, Congress, on the 11th 
of April, proclaimed a cessation of hostilities; 
and on the 30th of September the independence 
of the confederacy was formally acknowledged 
and ratified. 



232 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1783. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Embarrassed situation of the country — Conditional cession of 
public lands by Virginia — Objected to — Grounds of New 
Jersey's objection — Virginia withdraws her condition, and 
the cession is accepted — Federal impost proposed — Favoured 
by New Jersey and other states — Defeated in consequence 
of the opposition of New York — 111 feeling thus created — 
Embarrassing resolution of the New Jersey legislature — ^Na- 
tional convention recommended — Meets at Philadelphia — 
" New Jersey Plan" — " Virginia Plan" adopted — Constitu- 
tion submitted to the states — Ratified by the New Jersey 
convention — Republican and Federal parties — Politics of 
New Jersey — Washington chosen president — His journey 
from Mount Vernon to New York — His reception at Tren- 
ton — Trenton established permanently as the capital of the 
state — Death of Governor Livingston — William Patterson 
governor — Is made an associate judge in the Supreme Court 
of the United States — Resigns the executive of New Jersey 
— Is succeeded by Richard Howell — New partisan differ- 
ences — Alien and sedition laws — Decline of the Federalists 
■ — Joseph Bloomfield elected governor of New Jersey by the 
Republicans — Removal of the Brotherton Indians. 

On the return of peace and the recognition of 
their independence, the people of the United 
States had expected to enjoy a period of repose 
and prosperity. But numerous difficulties of 
the most disheartening character were yet to be 
surmounted. Burdensome state and national 
debts were to be liquidated, conflicting interests 
reconciled, and mutual jealousies allayed. Dis- 



1783.] CESSION BY VIRGINIA. 233 

Bensions speedily arose ; which, for a time, 
threatened to involve the country in the miseries 
of anarchy and civil war. Happily, however, 
eight years of common suffering had so assimi- 
lated the diverse population of the several states, 
that all considerations of a sectional or private 
nature were at length laid aside for measures 
conducive to the good of the nation, and to the 
permanent establishment of its independence. 

Even before the ratification of peace, Con- 
gress directed its chief endeavours to liquidate 
the public debt, which formed the most serious 
obstacle to the prosperity of the country. Al- 
ready Virginia had ceded to the confederacy a 
portion of her public lands, to be appropriated 
to that purpose ; but with the condition that her 
right and title to the remainder should be fully 
guarantied. To this condition, however, there 
was no little objection. 

In the protracted struggle for independence, 
the people of New Jersey had exerted themselves 
to the utmost of their ability. During nearly 
the whole period of the contest, the main army 
of the confederacy being within or on the bor- 
ders of their state, they were at no time free 
from the unavoidable evils of war. The inhabit- 
ants of South Carolina alone had suffered to a 
similar extent by the depredations of the enemy, 
while no state had contributed more largely than 
New Jersey toward supplying the American 

20* 



234 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1783. 

troops with the necessaries of life. Plundered 
bj their foes, they received but little compensa- 
tion from their friends ; and when paid at all, it 
was in a currency almost worthless. The de- 
predations of the former they had resisted by 
taking up arms ; to the requisitions of the latter 
they had, in general, acceded with commendable 
promptitude and willingness. 

In view of these facts, the legislature of New 
Jersey protested against the acceptance, by Con- 
gress, of the oifer of Virginia, with its annexed 
condition. Wrested from England by the joint 
efforts of the states, the lands in question, they 
contended, belonged to the states in common. 
They therefore urged, as ^'just and incontroverti- 
ble," the claim of New Jersey to a "full pro- 
portion of all vacant territory," the proceeds of 
the sale of which were to be applied to liquidat- 
ing her proportion of the national debt. Other 
legislatures uniting in this protest. Congress re- 
jected the Virginia cession. Presently, how- 
ever, that state magnanimously withdrew the 
condition annexed to her offer, and it was then 
accepted. Her example was speedily followed 
by the remaining states, claiming vacant or 
" crown" lands, and Congress was thus confirm- 
ed in the possession of a vast extent of territory. 
Though the chief object of these grants — the 
payment of the debt of the confederacy — was 
not accomplished so soon as it was expected, 



1786.] FEDERAL IMPOST PROPOSED. 235 

they yet afforded cheering evidences of a scarcely 
hoped for harmony of feeling between the seve- 
ral states. 

As another means of lightening the bm^den 
"with which the federal government was oppress- 
ed, Congress proposed to the legislatures of 
the different states, that they should confer upon 
it the right to levy a moderate specific duty on 
certain imported articles. New Jersey had al- 
ready urged the necessity of this measure, while 
hesitating to adopt the Articles of Confedera- 
tion ; and now her legislature willingly granted 
the desired authority. But the concurrence of 
all the states was necessary to its confirmation ; 
and. New York steadily refusing her full assent, 
the measure was finally defeated. 

Considerable ill-feeling was excited in conse- 
quence. Placed between two powerful commer- 
cial states, from which the greater part of her 
foreign merchandise was necessarily derived, 
New Jersey had a grievance peculiarly her own 
— that of paying the duties which those states 
severally laid upon the importations she con- 
sumed. By the proposed federative system of 
imposts, she had hoped to remove the disadvan- 
tages that operated against her, in consequence 
of the position she occupied. Her disappoint- 
ment at the failure of that measure was extreme, 
and expressed in strong language. On the 20th 
of February, 1786, her legislature, by resolu- 



236 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1786. 

tion, refused positively to pay any more specie 
into the public treasury, until New York con- 
sented to the federal impost. This resolution 
embarrassed the action of Congress considerably, 
and was deemed of such importance that a com- 
mittee was appointed for the express purpose of 
expostulating with the assembly of New Jersey. 
Visited by this committee in person, the assembly, 
" being willing to remove as far as possible every 
embarrassment from the counsels of the Union," 
at once rescinded the obnoxious resolution, but 
made no provision for collecting the money wliich 
had been called for. 

These events, with others of still greater mo- 
ment, made it evident to the reflecting statesmen 
of the country, and even to the mass of the 
people, that some modification, or complete re- 
organization, of the federal compact was abso- 
lutely necessary. Virginia had already moved 
in this matter. In accordance with a resolution 
of her assembly, commissioners from five states, 
including those from New Jersey, met at Anna- 
polis, in Maryland, in September, 1786, "to 
consider how far a uniform system in the com- 
mercial relations of the United States* might be 
necessary to their common interest, and their 
present harmony." But, finding themselves few 
in number, and without adequate authority to 
adopt any definite and effectual measures, they 
recommended a convention of delegates from 



1787.] DELEGATES TO CONVENTION. 237 

the several states, to meet at Pliiladelpliia, in 
the following May, and then adjourned. 

Congress acquiescing in this call for a conven- 
tion, the states, moved, probably, by an alarm- 
ing insurrection in Massachusetts, speedily 
agreed to it. Virginia first, and then New Jer- 
sey, appointed delegates ; the latter naming 
William Livingston, David Brearley, William 
Patterson, Jonathan Dayton, Abraham Clark, 
and William C. Houston. 

At the time and place appointed, delegates 
from twelve states assembled. Washington was 
unanimously chosen president of the convention, 
which, with closed doors, immediately entered 
upon the important business before it. During 
the long and stormy period of its session, three 
distinct plans were brought up for discussion. 
The first of these, introduced by Patterson, of 
New Jersey, and known as the '' Jersey" or 
" State-Rights Plan," proposed, simply, that the 
Articles of Confederation should be so amended 
as to confer increased authority upon Congress, 
without disturbing the original equality of the 
several states in that body. As a majority of 
the convention favoured an entire remodellinor of 
the federative system, this scheme was rejected, 
as was also that introduced and advocated by the 
celebrated Alexander Hamilton, who proposed 
the establishment of a purely national govern- 
ment. The "Virginia Plan," a species of com- 



238 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1787. 

promise between tlie two rejected schemes, and 
of a mixed federal and national character, was 
then taken up, and made the basis of our present 
constitution, as finally adopted on the 17th of 
September, 1787. 

Submitted to Congress, the new constitution 
was presently transmitted by that body to the 
several legislatures, with a recommendation that 
state conventions, of delegates chosen by the 
people, should be called to decide upon its ap- 
proval or rejection. 

The New Jersey convention met at Trenton, 
on the 11th of December. With grave delibe- 
ration, the new instrument of union was read 
over section by section. Scarcely any discus- 
sion took place, and no amendments were oifered. 
On the A 8th, the constitution was ratified by the 
unanimous voice'of the convention; and, on the 
following day, the members proceeded in solemn 
procession to the court-house, wdiere the result 
of their deliberations w^as made known to the 
assembled people. New Jersey was thus the 
third state to accept of the constitution, having 
been preceded but a few days by Delaware and 
Penns3dvania. 

The sanction of six more states was necessary, 
however, to render the new instrument binding 
upon the confederacy. From the first, the de- 
legates of New Jersey had been decided friends 
to the doctrine of states-rights ; but only, per- 



1787.] RATIFICATION OF CONSTITUTION. 239 

haps, so far as the one question of equal repre- 
sentation was concerned. On most other points 
they appear to have been favourable to a strong 
national government. Franklin's amendment to 
the "Virginia Plan," by which, in the higher 
branch of the confederative legislature, the re- 
presentation of the several states was rendered 
equal, had removed their principal objection to 
the constitution as finally adopted. But, by a 
considerable proportion of the people of the 
country at large, amounting, indeed, almost to a 
majority, a somewhat broader ground of objec- 
tion had been taken. Many contended that 
Congress and the president had been invested 
with powers altogether too extensive ; and that 
these powers had been taken from the individual 
states. Others went still further, declaring that 
the new constitution would lead to a breaking up 
of the Union, and that the convention which 
framed it had transcended their authority, which 
was to amend, merely, the old Articles of Con- 
federation. But, at length, New Hampshire 
having accepted of the constitution, the required 
number of states was completed, and it thus be- 
came the fundamental law of the republic. 

As has just been intimated, the whole people 
of the United States, on the question of adopt- 
ing or rejecting the federal constitution were at 
once organized into two widely differing parties. 
On the one side were the Federalists, who not 



240 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1789. 

only declared themselves in favour of accepting 
the new compact, but also, in some instances, 
contended that it ought to have been rendered 
still more centralizing. Between these and their 
opponents, who presently took the name of Re- 
publicans, a warm political warfare was kept up, 
even after the ratification of the constitution by 
all the states. 

To New Jersey the constitution ensured 
peace, prosperity, and freedom from the ap- 
prehensions of becoming the prey of her more 
powerful neighbours. Consequently the mass 
of her people sided with the Federalists, though 
they do not appear to have been carried into 
that current of partisan animosity by which their 
brethren in other parts of the Union were so vi- 
olently agitated. In Virginia and New York, 
however, the republicans held an undoubted ma- 
jority. By these states it was proposed to call 
a second national convention. But, the Con- 
gress of 1789 having adopted certain amend- 
ments to the constitution, this proposition was 
not agreed to by any other state. In the mean 
time, moreover, Washington, who, though no 
partisan, was an avowed friend of the new Fe- 
deral compact, had been elected to the ofiice 
of President of the United States, and for a 
brief period there was a lull in the political 
tempest. 

From Mount Vernon to New York, where his 



1789.] WASHINGTON AT TRENTON. 241 

inauguration was to take place, Washington 
had desired to proceed without display or cere- 
mony. But the whole course of his journey was 
marked by splendid receptions and entertain- 
ments, warm congratulations, and whatever could 
exhibit the deep veneration and sincere gratitude 
of the people with whom he came in contact. 
Though not so magnificent as at other places, 
nothing could have been more touchingly appro- 
priate than his reception at Trenton, where, 
twelve years before, he had appeared under cir- 
cumstances so widely different. On the same 
bridge over the Assunpink, which he had crossed 
the night previous to the battle of Princeton, 
was erected a triumphal arch, supported by 
thirteen columns, twined with evergreens and 
flowers, and bearing the inscription — " The De- 
fender of the Mothers will be the Protector of 
the Daughters." Underneath this arch, Wash- 
ington, as he entered the town, was met by a 
procession of matrons, intermixed with whom 
were young girls — their daughters — clad in white, 
and each carrying a basket of flowers. When 
the president drew near, they began to sing the 
following little Ode, which had been written for 
the occasion, by Richard Howell, Esq. : — 

" Welcome, mighty chief, once more, 
Welcome to this grateful shore ; 
Now no mercenary foe 
Aims again the fatal blow, 
Aims at thee the fatal blow. 
21 



242 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1793. 

Virgins fair and matrons grave, 
Those thy conquering arm did save, 
Build for thee triumphal bowers ; 
Strew, ye fair, his way with flowers ! 
Strew your hero's way with flowers!" 

As they sung the last line of their song, suit- 
ing the action to the words, they strewed before 
him a profusion of flowers from their baskets. 

Little of marked historical importance occurred 
in New Jersey for a number of years after the 
election of Washington to the presidency. Dur- 
ing the session of the legislature, in 1790, the 
seat of government of the state was permanently 
established at Trenton. In July of the same 
year, the old and tried governor of the common- 
wealth, William Livingston, died while yet in 
office, deeply lamented by all parties. Chosen 
"when the government was first organized, he had 
remained at his post, without shrinking, during 
the entire period of the perilous struggle for in- 
dependence. Having assisted in framing the 
federal constitution, he became its zealous sup- 
porter, and his influence had been exerted with 
great effect to procure its ratification by the 
state. He died on the twenty-fifth of July, 
and was succeeded as governor by William 
Patterson, who continued in office until March, 
1793 ; when, having been appointed an asso- 
ciate judge in the supreme court of the United 
States, he resigned. Governor Patterson was 



I 



1798.] NEW POLITICAL ISSUES. 243 

succeeded by Richard Howell, who remained in 
service until October, 1801. 

During the period of Governor Howell's ad- 
ministration, a great change took place in the 
condition of the two political organizations 
of the state and nation. The original point 
in dispute had been dropped, and new questions, 
both of foreign and domestic policy, were 
brought up, inflaming to the highest degree the 
animosity of partisans. 

Emerging from a bloody revolution, France 
had proclaimed herself a republic, and, soon 
after, declared war against England. By the 
new and ill regulated government, the United 
States, during a period extending from 1793 
to 1798, were subjected to many mortifying 
insults and grievous injuries. Siding with the 
French, the Republicans or Democrats, as they 
now began to be called, advocated the inter- 
ference of the American government in favour 
of France, either by taking up arms in her 
behalf, or by fulfilling the conditions of a treaty 
made with the late empire, which provided that 
French privateers and their prizes, but not 
those of any country at war with France, should 
receive shelter in the ports of the United States. 
Deeming this treaty no longer binding, and wish- 
ing to preserve the country from the miseries of 
a foreign war, Washington, supported by the 
Federalists, issued a proclamation of strict neu- 



244 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY [1800. 

trality. Shortly subsequent, several Frencli 
privateers, fitting out in American ports, were 
seized by the Federal authorities. Against these 
seizures, Genet, the minister of the Directory 
of France, entered a warm protest, and, en- 
couraged by the sympathies of a large portion 
of our citizens, violently assailed the prudent 
course of the administration. But, with the re- 
call of Genet, the excitement thus created par- 
tially subsided. 

France, however, still maintained her insulting 
and injurious policy. At length, during the ad- 
ministration of the elder Adams, who energeti- 
cally, but with little avail, endeavoured to obtain 
redress, the prospect of a war with that country 
became well-nigh certain. It was on this occa- 
sion that the celebrated Alien and Sedition laws 
were passed, for the avowed purpose of sustain- 
ing the policy of the administration. The arbi- 
trary nature of these laws at once brought upon 
them the obloquy of a considerable majority of 
the American people, and the Federal party, with 
which they originated, immediately began to de- 
cline. In 1800 — but two years after their 
passage — Thomas Jefferson, the Democratic can- 
didate, was* elected to the presidency over Mr. 
Adams. 

Hitherto New Jersey had been strongly Fede- 
ral, so strongly indeed, that the majority of that 
party in the legislature, adopted, previous to the 



1802.] DEPARTURE OF INDIANS. 245 

election in January, 1801, a general-ticket sys- 
tem of choosing representatives to Congress. 
They were confident of securing by this means 
a delegation wholly federal. But the event was 
contrary to expectation ; the Democratic party 
triumphing with from five hundred to a thousand 
majority. The state election, in the following 
October, also resulted favourably to the Demo- 
crats. Having obtained a majority in both 
branches of the legislature, they were enabled 
to elect their candidate for governor — the hu- 
mane and popular Joseph Bloomfield. 

During the year 1802, the last feeble remnant 
of the New Jersey Indians, between seventy and 
eighty in number, removed from the state. 
While quietly settled at Brotherton, as their little 
tract in Burlington county was called, a message 
came from the Stockbridge Indians, dwelling upon 
the shores of Oneida Lake, in New York, invit- 
ing them <' to come and eat of their dish, which 
was large enough for both." " We have stretch- 
ed our necks," continued the characteristically 
worded message of the simple red men, "in 
looking toward the fire-side of our grandfathers, 
until they are as long as cranes." Accepting 
this invitation, the Brotherton Indians, having 
obtained permission to sell their lands, took a 
final departure from the hunting-grounds of their 
ancestors. 

There being no choice for governor at the 

21* 



246 HISTORY or new jersey. [1803. 

election in October, John Lambert, vice-president 
of the upper legislative house, performed the 
duties of that office during the ensuing guber- 
natorial year. In 1803, however, Bloomfield 
was again chosen. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Re-election of Bloomfield — Act for the gradual abolition of 
slavery — Aaron Burr — Sketch of his life — Origin of his 
quarrel with Hamilton — He kills Hamilton in a duel — Is in- 
dicted for murder by a New Jersey grand jury — His journeys 
to the West — His arrest, trial, and acquittal — His subsequent 
career and death — Is buried in the Princeton grave-yard — 
Difliculties between the United States, England, and France 
— British orders in council — Napoleon's retaliatory decrees 
— American Embargo Act — Continued aggressions of Eng- 
land — Affair of the Chesapeake — Hostilities declared — Ex- 
emption of New Jersey from invasion — Naval victories of 
Bainbridge and Lawrence — Death of the latter — American 
successes — Peace — Governors Aaron Ogden, William S. 
Pennington, Mahlon Dickerson — School fund created — Isaac 
H. Williamson governor — Act to expedite the extinction of 
slavery — Common schools established — Peter D. Vroom go- 
vernor — Jacksonian and Whig parties^ — Governors Samuel 
S. Southard, Elias P. Seeley, Philemon Dickerson — Finan- 
cial embarrassments — Triumph of the Whigs — •William 
Pennington governor — Constitutional convention — New 
constitution ratified by the people — Governors Dan. Haines, 
Charles C. Stratton, George F. Fort^Present condition 
and prospects of the state — Conclusion. 

From the period of Bloomfield's second elec- 
tion until the War of 1812, the history of New 
Jersey affords but few points of interest, as con- 



1804.] AARON BURR. 247 

nected with the public action of the state. The 
political aspect of affairs was decidedly favoura- 
ble to the Democrats, Bloomfield being re-chosen 
every year until the opening of hostilities. 

Much to the gratification of the governor, who 
had been from the first an ardent advocate of 
the abolition of slavery in his own state, on the 
15th of February, 1804, an act was passed, with 
scarcely a dissenting vote, declaring that all per- 
sons, the children of slave parents, born after 
the fourth of July, in that year, should become 
free — the males, when twenty-five years old, and 
the females on arriving at the age of twenty-one. 
Thus New Jersey, the seventh, and, notwith- 
standing the character of her population, the 
last of -the original thirteen to do so, became 
virtually one of the circle of free states. 

It was during this year that the fatal duel be- 
tween Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, 
took place at Weehawken, on the Jersey shore, 
opposite New York city. 

Burr was a native of Newark, and a graduate 
of Princeton College, of which his father was 
the first president. Leaving college with the 
highest academic honours, at the early age of 
sixteen, he entered upon the study of the law ; 
but the War of Independence breaking out, he 
joined the American army, in which he rose to 
the rank of colonel. Having served through 
two active campaigns, during one of which he 



248 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1804. 

took part in the Battle of Monmouth, he grew 
dissatisfied, threw up his commission, and re- 
turned to his legal studies. Daringly ambitious, 
he had recourse to politics as the speediest and 
most certain avenue to distinction. His un- 
doubted talents and genius for intrigue, united 
with polished manners and a singularly fascinat- 
ing address, brought him rapidly into notice, 
and he soon became one of the most prominent 
and popular democratic leaders. In 1801 he 
was elected Vice-President of the United States. 

From the elevation he had attained. Burr fell 
suddenly. Charged with intriguing against Jef- 
ferson, in order to secure his own election to the 
office of president, he was abandoned by most 
of his party, which would nominate him neither 
for re-election to the vice-presidency, nor as a 
candidate for the executive chair of New York. 
For the latter station, however, he determined 
to run independently, expecting to obtain the 
votes of the Federalists, whose shattered condi- 
tion rendered hopeless the election of a candi- 
date of their own. But Hamilton, the great 
leader of the Federal party, though not active 
against Burr, refused to give him his support, 
and he was defeated. 

Chagrined and disappointed. Burr at once 
turned upon Hamilton, to whom he attributed 
his defeat, with the malignant and studied de- 
termination of forcing him into a duel. After 



1805.] BURR INDICTED. 249 

endeavouring, in every honourable way, to avoid 
what both his reason and his conscience abhorred, 
Hamilton at length accepted a challenge from 
Burr. Early on the morning of the 11th of 
July, the parties met. At the first fire, Hamil- 
ton fell mortally wounded, unconsciously dis- 
charging his pistol as he sunk to the ground. 
For twenty-four hours he lingered in extreme 
agony, and then calmly expired. 

A perfect storm of indignation broke over the 
surviving principal in this lamentable afi'air. 
Public opinion regarded him as but little better 
than a cold-blooded murderer ; and, as such, he 
was presently indicted by a New Jersey grand 
jury. Efi'orts were made to stay prosecution on 
this indictment, but though he had been a per- 
sonal friend of Burr, Governor Bloomfield steadily 
refused to interfere for that purpose. No other 
course was left to Burr, therefore, than to avoid 
entering the state. 

Ruined in reputation, and with his ambitious 
hopes forever blasted, the wretched Burr, having 
served out his unexpired term as vice-president, 
presently crossed the Alleghanies, and sailed 
down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans, 
stopping, very mysteriously, at various points 
on his route. Returning to Philadelphia in the 
winter of 1805, he remained there until the fol- 
lowing summer, when he again set out for the 
West. It having at length become evident that 



250 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1806. 

his designs were of a treasonable character, his 
arrest was determined upon, and a reward offer- 
ed for his apprehension. On the 19th of Feb- 
ruary, 1807, he was captured, while travelling 
with a single companion, through the Tombigbee 
country, in Eastern Mississippi. He was pre- 
sently tried on the charge of treason against the 
United States. His guilt could scarcely be 
doubted, but the evidence against him was in- 
formal, and he was acquitted. Indictments for 
treason were also hanging over several of his 
associates, among whom was Jonathan Dayton, 
of New Jersey. These, of course, were now 
abandoned. 

After standing his trial on certain other 
charges, of which he was likewise acquitted, 
Burr embarked for Europe, where, for four 
years, he lived an object of suspicion, and a 
wretched, restless wanderer. Returning in 1812 
to New York, he there resumed the practice of 
law. His death, at the age of eighty-four, took 
place on the 14th of September, 1836. His re- 
mains were carried to Princeton, and there buried, 
with the honours of war, beside the grave where 
repose those of his father. 

While Burr was yet engaged in his treason- 
able plot, the foreign relations of the Union had 
assumed a troubled aspect. 

During the bloody war which succeeded the 
French Revolution, and up to the year 1806, 



1806.] BRITISH AGGRESSIONS. 251 

the United States had enjoyed a prosperous, 
though not entirely uninterrupted trade with 
Europe. Various assumptions of exclusive naval 
authority were, however, from time to time set 
up by the British government. Among these 
were the right of search, and the right of im- 
pressment, which, at this period, England, at- 
tempted to enforce, greatly to the injury of our 
seamen, native-born as well as adopted citizens. 
At the same time, that government issued a 
formal Order in Council, the effect of which was 
to destroy completely the commercial relations 
existing between France and America. In- 
censed by these invasions of the individual rights 
of their citizens, and of their own commercial 
rights as a neutral confederacy, the United States 
energetically remonstrated, through their com- 
missioners, Messrs. Monroe and Pinckney. Eng- 
land, however, continued to insist upon her as- 
sumed right to impress American mariners on 
the high seas, and to force American vessels, 
engaged in commerce with other nations, to sail 
under the license of a British admiral, or be 
subject to capture and confiscation. 

Meanwhile, in imitation of his more powerful 
maritime rival, Napoleon, now Emperor of the 
French, issued his retaliatory Berlin and Milan 
decrees ; which rendered all neutral vessels trad- 
ing in English merchandise, or under British 
licenses, liable to seizure and confiscation by the 



252 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1812. 

cruisers of France ; just as the British Orders 
in Council had previously subjected American 
vessels found trading with French property on 
board, to capture and confiscation by the navy 
of England. 

Under these irritating circumstances, it was at 
first thought prudent to withdraw our commercial 
marine from the ocean altogether. In accord- 
ance, therefore, with the recommendation of 
President Jefi*erson, Congress, in 1807, passed 
an act enforcing an embargo on American ves- 
sels. This measure was followed by others of a 
similar character, including the act of non-inter- 
course ; but, contrary to anticipation, they 
wrought no favourable change in the conduct, 
either of France or England. On the contrary, 
the latter nation, especially, seemed to grow more 
determined in her insolence and in her acts of 
aggression. Among these last was the wanton 
attack made by one of her cruisers, the Leopard, 
upon the American frigate Chesapeake, under 
the pretence of recovering certain men, claimed 
as deserters from the British service. 

From this period, until 1812, various efforts 
were made to settle, by amicable negotiations, 
the irritating questions in dispute between the 
two countries. But all these efforts having 
failed, Congress, finding that hostilities could no 
longer be honourably avoided, formally declared 



1814.] NAVAL TRIUMPHS. 253 

war against Great Britain, on the 18th of June, 
1812. 

Confined mostly to the frontiers and the 
ocean, the contest that followed this declaration 
caused no injury to New Jersey from actual inva- 
sion. In other respects she sustained her share 
of the sufferings and expenses, consequent upon 
hostilities. In the maritime successes, by which, 
alone, during the early part of the war, the 
arms of America were preserved from disgrace, 
two of her sons gloriously participated ; winning 
names that will not soon be blotted from the list 
of our country's naval heroes. Of these, one 
was William Bainbridge, a native of Princeton, 
and commander of the Constitution, when she 
made a prize of the British frigate Java, on the 
29th of December, 1812. The other was the 
heroic Lawrence, of Burlington, the captor of 
the Peacock brig-of-war. But Lawrence's career, 
which had opened so brilliantly, was suddenly 
brought to a close on the 1st of June, 1813 ; he 
being on that day mortally wounded, during an 
engagement in which his vessel, the Chesapeake, 
after a brief but most sanguinary struggle, was 
compelled to yield to the British frigate Shannon. 

It was not until the opening of 1814, that 
the military arm of our national defence began 
to recover permanently from its early disasters. 
During that year, however, it achieved a series 
of important triumphs in the north-west, on the 

22 



y LAo^i 5- '«'»^ 



254 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1817. 

Canadian frontier, and in the south. On the 
8th of February, 1815, hostilities were finally 
terminated by the celebrated victory of General 
Jackson, over the enemy, at New Orleans. Two 
weeks previous, a treaty of peace had been signed 
at Ghent; and on the 17th of the following 
month, it was ratified by the President and 
Senate. 

Meanwhile several slight political changes had 
occurred in New Jersey. At the state elections 
in 1812, the Federal or Peace party carried the 
legislature, secured a majority of the congres- 
sional delegation, and elected Aaron Ogden go- 
vernor. In the following year, however, the 
Democrats recovered their lost ascendancy, and 
William S. Pennington was chosen to fill the ex- 
ecutive chair. 

Pennington was succeeded, in 1815, by Mah- 
lon Dickerson, who remained in office two years. 
It was during his administration that the first 
step was taken toward creating a permanent 
fund for the establishment and support of a sys- 
tem of common schools. 

In 1817, Isaac H. Williamson was elected go- 
vernor, to which office he was annually chosen 
until 1829. W^hile Williamson occupied the 
chair of state, two important public measures 
were adopted. The first of these was an act, 
passed in 1820, embracing and extending the 
principles of the abolition bill of 1804. By its 



1832.] PARTY ORGANIZATIONS. 255 

operation the extinction of slavery has been 
greatly hastened. Indeed, at the present time, 
there are no slaves in the state, though about 
two hundred persons, the children of slave pa- 
rents, are still held to labour as " apprentices," 
under the provisions of the act of 1820. 

The second measure above alluded to, was 
adopted in February, 1829. By it the first com- 
mon schools in the state were established. For 
their support, provision was made for an annual 
appropriation of twenty thousand dollars, to be 
taken from the income of the fund created in 
1816. By the liberality of the legislature, that 
fund had already been increased to a respectable 
sum. 

In 1829, Peter D. A^room, Esq., was chosen 
to succeed Governor Williamson. He was a 
member of the new Democratic or Jackson party, 
which had sprung up since the dissolution of 
the two old partisan organizations in 1827. 

For a period of nearly fourteen years after 
the first election of Yroom, the history of New 
Jersey afibrds but few points of interest to the 
general reader. In 1832, the National Repub- 
lican or Whig party, organized in opposition to 
the Jacksonian Democrats, succeeded in carrying 
the state. Samuel L. Southard, formerly Secre- 
tary of the Navy under Presidents Monroe and 
Adams, was elected to the office of governor ; 
hut, he being presently chosen to the United 



256 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1837. 

States Senate, Elias P. Seelj, likewise a Whig, 
was selected to fill the vacancy thus occasioned. 
In the following year, however, the Democrats 
again triumphed; Governor Yroom being once 
more chosen to occupy the executive chair. He 
remained in office until 1836, when he was suc- 
ceeded by Philemon Dickinson, a member of the 
Democratic party. 

During this year events occurred which, for 
a time, materially changed the condition of 
parties. Financial difficulties of the most dis- 
tressing character arose, causing the bankruptcy 
of a large number of mercantile houses, and the 
complete prostration of almost every branch of 
employment. By the Whigs it was alleged that 
these difficulties sprung from President Jackson's 
opposition to the rechartering of the Bank of 
the United States ; from his removal of the 
treasury deposits; and from his circular of 1836, 
ordering all moneys due the government to be 
paid in specie. Whether these allegations were 
true or not, as the distress in the country had 
grown up under a democratic administration, it 
led to a reaction highly favourable to the Whigs. 
During the state canvass of 1837, the latter 
party elected William Pennington as governor, 
to which office he was annually re-chosen until 
1843. 

Meanwhile, in the nation at large, the Whigs 
continued to augment their strength until, in 



1844.] CONSTITUTION AMENDED. 257 

1840, they elected General Harrison to the pre- 
sidency with an overwhelming majority. Harri- 
son's death, one month after his inauguration, 
by placing Vice-President Tyler in the executive 
chair, caused a vacancy in the speakership of 
the National Senate, to which the distinguished 
Southard, of New Jersey, was presently elevated. 
He thus became, by virtue of his office, Yice- 
president of the United States. 

Though formed hastily during a troubled and 
stormy period, the constitution of the state 
had hitherto afforded general satisfaction. Du- 
ring the year 1843, however, there were de- 
cided manifestations that some modification of 
it was desired by the people. Adopted at a time 
when the colonies had not fully resolved upon 
independence, it still retained a provision for 
renewing the colonial connection with Great 
Britain. This provision was now, of course, a 
matter of slight importance, yet it appeared 
singular and out of place, and was offensive to 
many. But the principal objection to the old 
plan of government was based upon the fact that 
it contained, in far too small a degree, those 
popular elements which, in the constitutions of 
most of the other states, had been more freely 
and fully developed. 

After some hesitation on the part of the 
legislature, in February, 1844, a convention 
of delegates, chosen by the people, was sum- 

22* 



258 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1844. 

moned to meet, on the 14th of May then fol- 
lowing, in order " to frame a constitution of the 
state, to be submitted to the people thereof, for 
ratification or rejection." 

On the day appointed for the convention, 
fifty-eight delegates assembled. After some dis- 
cussion, it was determined to frame a constitution 
entirely new. Entering upon its work in a 
liberal and intelligent spirit, the convention 
presently submitted to the people an instru- 
ment which, while it remained free from the 
extremes of an excessive zeal for reform, exhi- 
bited the full acquaintance of its framers with 
the advanced political science of the age. 
Ample security was given for the rights of the 
people ; the difi"erent departments of govern- 
ment were made independent of each other ; 
the governor, hitherto chosen by the legislature 
annually, was now rendered elective by the 
people every three years ; the judiciary was 
established on a new and more permanent foot- 
ing ; the property qualifications formerly re- 
quired of the members of the legislature, was 
entirely removed, and the right of suffrage, re- 
stricted by the old constitution to freeholders, 
was now extended to all free white males above 
the age of twenty-one years. 

Such, in its more important features of im- 
provement, was the new plan of government, as 
ratified by the almost unanimous voice of the 



1850.] PROGRESS OF THE STATE. 259 

people, on the second Tuesday in August, 1844. 
From the period of its adoption, until the pre- 
sent time, the history of the state presents few 
points for the consideration of the historian. 

The last governor under the old constitution 
was Daniel Haines, a member of the Democratic 
party, and elected in 1843. He was succeeded 
in 1844 by Charles C. Stratton, a prominent 
Whig. At the subsequent canvass in 1847, the 
Democrats were again triumphant, re-electing 
ex-governor Haines. Since that period the 
state has remained in the hands of the Demo- 
cratic party : Governor Fort, the present execu- 
tive, being a member of that organization. 

Having thus brought the history of New Jer- 
sey to a close, little remains to be said beyond 
a brief notice of the present condition and 
prospects of the state. By the census of 1840, 
the number of her inhabitants was three hundred 
and seventy-three thousand, eight hundred and 
twenty-three. The census of 1850 exhibits a 
population of four hundred and eighty-nine 
thousand, five hundred and fifty-five ; the ratio 
of increase during the decade having been 
thirty-one per cent. Being more than double 
the average of that of all previous decades since 
the Bevolution, this ratio of increase affords 
cheering evidence that, as far as regards popu- 
lation, a new and fresh impetus has been given 
to the advancement of the state. 



260 HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1850. 

But it is not in this particular alone that New 
Jersey exhibits tokens of a vigorous existence. 
Debarred from foreign commerce, her people 
have turned their attention to agriculture and 
manufactures, for which, by the diversity of her 
soil, and by the number of her mines and water- 
courses, the state possesses many and rare ad- 
vantages. In both pursuits her citizens have 
prospered abundantly, and every year is adding 
to the wealth and importance which they derive 
from them. 

Since the establishment of the common-school 
system, the cause of education has been pro- 
gressing with a rapidity greater even than could 
have been expected. Though established but 
little more than twenty years, there are already 
in the state no less than one thousand five hun- 
dred public schools, with an average attendance 
of eighty thousand children. In addition to 
these, three first-class colleges, and two theolo- 
gical seminaries, which are attended by between 
six and seven hundred pupils. Still further, 
we find two hundred and thirty private acade- 
mies, attended by more than ten thousand scho- 
lars. The number of libraries, public and 
private, in the state amounts to four hundred 
and fifty-nine, containing two hundred and sixty- 
one thousand volumes. 

No state in the American Union presents to 
the consideration of the historian a purer po- 



1850.] CONCLUSION. 261 

litical character than New Jersey. Her soil 
was obtained from the original proprietors with- 
out fraud or oppression in any instance ; while 
in arranging the future government of the pro- 
vince, the wisdom of her early rulers led them 
to adopt such simple and inexpensive regula- 
tions as were best calculated to meet the wants 
of the people, and to establish firmly among 
them the principles of peace, justice, and 
equity. 



THE END. 



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